Harry Potter and his Trusted Followers
by SportsNightLover
Summary: Post HBP. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and others search for the horcruxes. They skip their last year at Hogwarts, so that they can find and destroy all of them. R&R PLEASE!
1. The Journey Begins

Title: Harry Potter and his Trusted Followers

Summary: Post HBP. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and others search for the horcruxes. They skip their last year at Hogwarts, so that they can find and destroy all of Voldemort's horcruxes.

Disclaimer: The characters are not, and were never, mine.

Knock, Knock, Knock.

"Coming, who's there?" a familiar unfriendly voice rang from inside the door.

When the door slightly opened, a large head popped out. The head had a huge mustache and was round. Quickly, Vernon Dursley opened the door to admit Harry inside. When Harry squeezed past him, he stood in front of the door, staring at the remaining people on his doorstep.

"Let them in. They're Ron and Hermione, my friends," Harry explained.

At the word "friends," Uncle Vernon barked a short laugh and made to slam the door shut. Before he could though, Harry grabbed the door and opened it wider.

"If you don't let them in I'll make you grow an assortment of odd things in weird places," Harry warned keeping his face as straight as possible.

Uncle Vernon decided against yelling and settled for turning a deep shade of purple and telling Harry to sleep with one eye open, although, he did allow Ron and Hermione to enter his home. Aunt Petunia was holding her son, Dudley, close to herself, and trembling uncontrollably.

"They will be here for the remainder of my stay, which won't be for long," Harry stated, and before Uncle Vernon was able to say anything, Harry was already safely locked in his room with his best friends.

"So, how long do you reckon we should stay?" Ron asked after a moment's silence. "A week, maybe? A month?"

"Probably closer to a week," Harry decided.

"What shall we do first then?" Hermione asked with a slightly frightened look on her face. "There will be nothing about Voldemort's horcruxes in a muggle community."

"I know. That's what I'm worried about. I know what I must do, but not how to do it, or even where it is."

"Don't worry, mate. We're here for you if you need help," Ron said in a consoling voice.

"Yeah, I know. Thanks a lot guys. I should probably find everything I own in this house, because when I leave, I'm never coming back," Harry said with a dead serious face that clearly showed he remembered all the torture he had endured over the years.

"I don't blame you," Ron said, staring around. "With relatives like them, I would have run away years ago."

Before Hermione could mention the fact that they have never held a conversation and that he shouldn't judge them too quickly, Harry immediately changed the subject to what they were going to do after they left Little Winging. They talked while they gathered Harry's things that he didn't bring with him that year to Hogwarts, like old spell books. They decided to go to the Burrow and that they would stay for about a week or two, at most, a month. After that short detour, they decided to go to the town where his parents were buried.

The week in his uncle's house went quickly enough and they avoided his family as much as possible. When they were ready to leave, they packed everything and went outside. As soon as the street was deserted, Hermione "helped" Ron and Harry to apparate because they didn't have their licenses. They arrived in front the Burrow. It was just as Harry remembered it to be and he got the same excited feeling. Hermione walked straight to the door and knocked three times. Almost as Hermione's fist was landing on the door for the fourth time, Mrs. Weasley opened the door. She graciously stepped aside so that they could enter. Once in, they were greeted by Mr. Weasley, Fleur, Bill, Ginny, and the twins, who were also only visiting.

"You are, of course, welcome at any time, but why did you come?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Ron made us come," Harry answered.

"How long will you be staying for?"

"Probably just a week or two, if that's ok with you."

"Of course, it is," Mrs. Weasley responded quickly, looking a little offended.

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley, and sorry to just pop up on you like this," Hermione apologized.

"Oh, it's quite all right. Harry, you can stay with Ron in his bedroom, and Hermione will have to stay with Ginny. Bill, would you move in with the twins, and Fleur go with Hermione and Ginny."

"Sorry to trouble you all."

"No trouble at all, Harry," Mrs. Weasley said. Everyone else agreed without hesitation.

They stayed for a week and a half, having fun and talking to each other. Harry spent most of his time with Ginny because he would be leaving her again soon.

The day they decided to leave, they brought down their bags and said good-bye.

"Oh, Harry, I forgot to tell you, after Dumbledore… well, you know. The Order has been leaderless, and in case you wanted to know, Moody has been chosen to run it."

"Really?" Harry asked, wondering lately who would fill Dumbledore's place. "That's great."

After they said good-bye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Fleur, they turned to Fred, George, and Ginny.

"Good-bye. It was nice to see you again-" Harry started, but was interrupted.

"What do you mean goodbye?" Fred asked, looking stunned, but still smiling.

"Yeah, what are you playing at?" George asked, completely grinning.

"I mean we're leaving now, as you can see by our luggage being at the door," Harry answered with little annoyance hinted in his voice.

"We know that you're going, but what do you mean by, _good-bye_," Ginny said, fighting back laughter.

"You do know that we are-," Fred started, grinning from ear to ear, now.

"Coming with you. Right?" George finished.

"What," said Ron looking like he was just hit in the face with something very hard.

"You are _not_ leaving us here with them alone. We are coming with you, and Fred and George are older than you, so age has nothing to do with it," Ginny stated.

"And, we're old DA members. What was it that that was for, again?" George asked.

"To defend ourselves from Voldemort, I think," Fred answered.

"It's too dangerous. And besides, it would be too many people. Voldemort might try to use you to get to me," Harry replied simply.

"You're bringing Ron and Hermione, and they're your closet friends. And also, if you bring Ron, his whole family is in danger," Fred said.

"Which includes us," George helped.

"So why not fight, instead of wait and be defenseless?" Ginny finished, looking like she won the point for them.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were standing there trying to find a good argument, and Mrs. Weasley was shocked into silence. Bill and Fleur were listening as if were interesting television. Mr. Weasley was the only one to speak, and he spoke in a stern voice, that did not sound like his normal friendly voice, but like a man putting his foot down.

"You are not allowed to go with them."

"But they're going," Ginny pleaded.

"I have no control over Harry and Hermione, so I cannot stop them, even though I disagree with them."

"What about Ron? He's your son."

"I am aware, thank you. I don't want him to go either, but I believe that Harry and Hermione will need his help. If I can't stop them, I want to help them stay out of danger, or at least, have help."

"You can't command us anymore, we're of age, and don't even live here anymore." Fred said.

"Fine, you two can go if you want, but Ginny stays."

"But I come of age in just a few months," Ginny protested.

"And until then you are not to go with them. Final decision."

Finally finding her voice again, Mrs. Weasley spoke before Ginny could.

"Your father is right; you are not going while we are still responsible for you."

"I think that she should come," Harry said changing his mind.

He was already going with four other people, what would one more be. And she was always good in the DA which was two years ago, she could only have gotten better. He especially wanted her to come, so he wouldn't have to be without her anymore.

"What?" said Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"Thank you, Harry," Ginny said now smiling. "See Harry wants me to come, and he knows how dangerous it is."

"But Harry-," Mrs. Weasley started.

"No, I think she could help a lot. And it would be better to have six than five. I won't take no for an answer. And besides, in a few months, she will come of age and be able to leave even without your permission."

After a short argument, they finally gave up and Mr. Weasley said, "Fine, but take good care of her."

"I will."

And with that they all left feeling great.


	2. Harry Gains Support

Author: SportsNightLover

Title: Harry Potter and his Trusted Followers

Summary: Post HBP. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and others search for the horcruxes. They skip their last year at Hogwarts, so that they can find and destroy all of Voldemort's horcruxes.

Disclaimer: The characters are not, and were never, mine.

Not knowing where to go, Harry had a good suggestion, which they followed. They disapparated to Hogsmeade, where they found two rooms to stay in, and talked about what to do next. They decided to go to Godric's Hollow and then chase down the horcruxes. Fred, George, and Ginny wanted to know all that they needed to know about the horcruxes and Riddle's past, because they were not allowed in on the secrets last year. Before Harry answered, he had an idea. He told them that, since there were already six of them, why not add more, and make better protection for themselves. They all seemed to agree with the plan, and Harry said that they should track down other DA members. They knew that Neville and Luna would join easily, but they still wanted all twenty eight of the original members, or at least minus Marietta, who betrayed them already. They decided to wait the remainder of the summer and go back to school and ask the rest of the members.

Over the summer, though, they bought advanced spell books at Flourish and Blott's, and other stores, to study from. They used Harry's money and started trying to learn defensive and attacking spells. They each took one defensive and one offensive book for every couple of days. They studied day and well into the night, having nothing else to do. Hermione memorized the spells and hand motions almost immediately, but had a little trouble actually performing more difficult spells and curses. Ron was completely helpless. Ginny seemed to do well with hexes and jinxes, but still was not improving as well as Harry hoped she would. The twins put all their energies into learning the curses, and therefore were delighted to find that a few seemed to work. Harry was learning at top speed with the offensive spells, but stumbled with the defensive maneuvers. They also added a few charms in case a few were likely to help. Harry also knew that they had to teach the other loyal DA members, and hoped that he would be able to do well at teaching again. Harry moved to another level of offensive spells, but had to stop and learn to use it nonverbally, because that is what the spells called for. He soon was forced to learn full incantations to help increase his magical arsenal, and even a few that healed wounds, for they did not have a personal healer.

Harry and Ron broke off from the other four one day, to take their apparition tests. This was Ron's second time, and he was very nervous that he was going to fail again. Harry still was thinking about the spells that he just learned, so he was not nervous. They both passed, Ron barely, and now had a license.

Harry arrived hours early to platform nine and three quarters so that he could persuade a few students before they were reminded of the safety and greatness of Hogwarts. Fortunately, he had the rest of the group with him to help in any way. Hermione held out the list of members and was ready to check off any who agreed to join them in their highly dangerous quest. The first few to come across the barrier were Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws who were not in the DA, so Harry just let them pass. Next was Neville with his grandma, trying to get there early to get a good seat. Harry decided to ask him right in front of his grandma, hoping that she would encourage that he do something like this to represent his name. He was right to do this, because she insisted that she buy any materials needed to help Neville help them. Neville was pleased to be asked and answered with the same enthusiasm as his grandmother.

"Of course I will help!" he said sounding really excited. "I will also try and get others to come, too."

In no time at all, they were joined by Luna, Dean, Seamus, Lavender, the Patil sisters, who had a long argument with their parents about it, the Creevey brothers, who happily joined just to see Harry in action, Ernie Macmillian, Justin Flinch-Fletchey, Hannah Abbott, Michael Corner and his two friends, and to Harry's surprise, Zacharias Smith. Ten minutes before the train was supposed to leave, Harry's heart dropped at the next DA pair that came through the gates. Cho Chang and Marietta walked through and pushed their way to the train. Harry tried to pretend not to notice, but Hermione made him go and ask her. He walked over to her and Marietta and said:

"Hey Cho."

"Oh, hey Harry," she answered, though not meeting his eyes. "How are you?"

"Fine. I need to ask you something," he looked over his shoulder to make sure that they were out of earshot. "The DA is starting again, would you like to join?"

"Er…ok."

"Great, but the thing is that it isn't just practice anymore."

"What," she asked completely confused.

"Well, er… the thing is… we are testing out our spells in real life, against real enchantments."

"Will we be facing Death Eaters and You-Know-Who?" she asked, white-faced.

"In the end, but first just spells and obstacles that Voldemort placed himself."

"Who else is helping?" she now looked really scared.

"Everyone else accepted, even the most unlikely people. Look," he pointed to where the rest of the DA stood watching them from a way off.

"I dunno Harry… is Marietta invited?"

"No!"

"What?"

"After what happened last time, I would never allow her to help, even if she was on my side."

"Don't you think you are being a little harsh?"

"No. Are you joining, alone, or not?"

After about two minutes of thinking, it seemed like years, she finally answered very slowly.

"What would we do, exactly?"

"First, we would learn higher lever spells, as high as we can learn, and then find and destroy Voldemort's horcruxes."

"What are horcruxes?"

"They are very powerful and very dangerous Dark magic, which Voldemort contains many of. If we destroy them, we will be that much closer to killing Voldemort. I will explain the rest to the whole group when everyone accepted."

"It seems very important that you do that."

"We need as much help as we can get. Please"

"Oh all right. But I might stop at any moment."

"Great. Let's go and tell everyone."

Everyone was happy that they were now facing the darkest evil in the world and that they were with at least twenty other people doing the same, and with the same lack of experience. Fred and George got Lee Jordan to come with them and they took a lot of their own useful inventions. They gave out shield hats and cloaks and gloves, and brought along a lot of distracting toys and darkness powder. Harry also received three new recruits to the DA. After asking his beaters, Peakes and Cootes, they were almost pushed into his leadership form their parents. He was overheard by Cormac Mclaggen, who said that he would help out. Unable to refuse when offered assistance, he said that he could join, but was not glad about it. Amazingly, Harry tracked down Alicia Spinnet, Katie Bell, and Angelina Johnson. They agreed to help, especially because of what happened to Katie with the necklace the previous year. His total number of members was brought to 30.

Harry, and the ones who knew about it, went to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix and were glad to see that Lupin answered the door. Harry told him of his plan and his group of trusted supporters. He asked if there was any way to alert the Order if they came across any Death Eaters, because they would surely want to help take them to prison. Lupin decided that his communicating coins would be fine, and received a few for the Order. Now that the Order was there for back-up, Harry felt a little safer.

After returning to Hogsmeade, and renting a lot more rooms, they all gathered in Harry's room to learn what they needed to learn. He told them everything that he thought he should tell, and everything that they would need to know. After hours of explanation and answering questions, someone asked where they would be practicing.

"Leave that to me," Harry replied, not knowing where all of them would fit, and be able to practice dangerous spells.

As soon, as they all went back to their rooms, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went for a walk to talk about where there is excessive space.

"I was thinking that we could do in our own rooms, Harry," Ron suggested.

"No, Harry needs to help them, and see how they are doing," Hermione said. "Maybe we could work in the cave where Sirius used to live."

"That is a good idea, Hermione… yeah, we will work there. You two go tell everyone, while I check out the space," Harry answered, wondering how he missed that before.

He walked to the cave and saw that it would be perfect for practicing, and it even had room to store books or any other materials. He found his new training area.


	3. Harry's Idea

Author: SportsNightLover

Title: Harry Potter and his Trusted Followers

Summary: Post HBP. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and others search for the horcruxes. They skip their last year at Hogwarts, so that they can find and destroy all of Voldemort's horcruxes.

Disclaimer: The characters are not, and were never, mine.

"I don't think we are getting anywhere," Harry said to Ron and Hermione after their 5th meeting.

"How do you figure? Everyone is well past the level we would be in for our 7th year," Ron pointed out.

"Everyone except you is. Anyway, it is really easy."

"Easy for you," Hermione corrected. "I think we are doing fine, anymore work and you will overworking us. And besides, it has only been a week."

"Still, I wanted to move faster," Harry said as he merely flicked his wand and all the spell books and practice materials soar into a neat pile. "There are loads of simple, verbal, spells that they don't know."

"Don't rush them."

"I need to. Only you and Neville are improving like I hoped."

"You expect too much," said Ron, a little scared of Harry's reaction. Hermione nodded.

"I need to. It is Voldemort we are up against. I don't want anyone getting hurt if I can help it."

"Would you please not say that name?" Ron said. Changing subjects and puffing out his chest, "How do you think the rest of us are doing?"

"You need private lessons, mate… hey that is a good idea. Why don't I give extra lessons to everyone? One day is one person, and the next is another."

"You know, that may be a good idea. Yes, I think that will work," Hermione said trying to imagine a negative result. "How will you decide who goes first and so on?"

"Whoever is worst that day will go to the top of my list. Ron, since you are always worst, let's starts now."

"Ok. What first?" Ron asked looking slightly more cheerful after learning that he would study privately with Harry.

After a few one-on-one lessons with Ron, Harry realized he made a good decision and learned how differently to teach. Ron improved a little from the extra attention and caught up to where he should have been in the beginning, but was still behind. Dean, Seamus, and the other Gryffindors paid more attention to Harry, and benefited more. Once, everyone had at least one alone time with Harry, he started to develop an idea. He knew that some were better in some areas and others were better in a different area. He decided to use that to his advantage.

"Listen up everybody. I am going to split you into three different groups and I will tell you what to do later," Harry told everyone after thinking up a strategy of attack the previous night.

Harry decided that he should make Dumbledore's Army into a real army. He already had a training area, enough people to make three divisions of ten, and was already planning on acting like an army. All that he was doing was making it organized. He made three attack teams: the first as the primary attack and the first ones into the area where fighting would occur. The ones in this group had to be the best in his army with a lot of courage and reflexes. When given the signal, blue sparks, the second force would join them and help to complete the given objective, or help fight off Death Eaters. When not helping, they would be patrolling around exits and making sure no Death Eaters escape, or join the fight. This team would consist of soldiers with the ability to pull off nonverbal spells, so that they could, at first, join undetected. If they need even more help, the last ten soldiers would come to the rescue when given their signal, green sparks. They would be with the second team out guarding the entrances. They would be the worst in the army, but be able to react fast to anyone unwelcome that fires at them. If red sparks are given, that means anyone left should help, but be careful because the first groups were outmatched.

He, Harry, would be commander of the army, and captain of the first attack. Hermione would be captain of the second, and Ron captaining the third. In case anything happened, he used Ginny as his own back-up, Fred as Hermione's, and George as Ron's.

When everyone was sorted into three different groups, he told them the plan, which shocked Ron and Hermione that he didn't ask them first. After addressing the whole army, he went to each group and told them the spells, that he thought they should know best and the ones that would be useful. Instead of using just individual practices, he did team practices, and left his captains in charge of the other divisions, with frequent reports. He also did individual practices, but less than before.

He placed under his own personal command, Ginny, because she was his second in command, Neville, because he could trust him and rely on him, Dean and Seamus, because they were best friends and might help each other and who had known Harry for seven years, Zacharias Smith, who he wanted to keep a close watch over, Katie, Angelina, and Alicia, because they were older and had seven years of Hogwarts under them, and Mclaggen, who he could not leave to the others.

Under Hermione's command was Fred, her second in command, Lavender, who could not be near Ron, Ernie Macmillian, Justin Flinch-Fletchey, Hannah Abbott, who were older than some, but Harry didn't want under his own control, Luna, who he knew could get along with Hermione, and would be good to help in the second wave, the Patil sisters, who couldn't be with Harry or Ron after the Yule Ball, and Lee Jordan, who he hoped would be as good as the twins he always hung out with.

With Ron was George, his second in command, but much better older brother, the Creevey brothers, with little experience, and as far away from Harry as possible, Michael Corner and his friends, who Harry didn't get a good impression of two years ago, his two beaters, who were very young and inexperienced, and Cho Chang, who could not be with Harry or even close to Hermione.

The reports came back confirming his decisions of where everyone should be and that they should work on their own strengths. They worked well together and were able to learn quicker with only a third of the work to learn. The last group learned least, only there as a last resort, the second learned a lot, being as a direct help, and the first group learned most and more difficult spells because they were the first to a new place. Harry was far better than anyone else in advanced curses, but Hermione knew a lot of charms that she taught to everyone, including other divisions. Ron brought nothing as a help, but tried to learn with Harry just as much as teaching his squad. Neville knew a lot about Herbology, which would help when he got in, so that everyone was warned about dangerous plants.

Harry spent all his free time thinking about the other horcruxes and R.A.B. He often relived the memories he saw in the Pensieve hoping that he would think of somewhere that Voldemort would hide a horcrux, like the cave. He knew that the snake was always with him, so he would have to eliminate it last, when near Voldemort. The cup, he had no idea where it could be, the locket was with R.A.B., who he did not know, and the relic from either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, he did not know what, where, or even how Voldemort found it. He was glad that two were already destroyed, because he couldn't imagine going after six.


	4. Surprises Everywhere

Author: SportsNightLover

Title: Harry Potter and his Trusted Followers

Summary: Post HBP. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and others search for the horcruxes. They skip their last year at Hogwarts, so that they can find and destroy all of Voldemort's horcruxes.

Disclaimer: The characters are not, and were never, mine.

"Time to go," Harry told Ron and Hermione one day.

"Where are we going?" Ron asked still sleepy because Harry and Hermione just woke him up.

"To Godric's Hollow."

"I didn't know that was today. Why didn't you tell me?"

"It doesn't matter. Pack what you need, it won't be that long."

"Who is coming?"

"Just us and the rest of my division, in case we get in trouble. Fred and George will command everyone else while we are gone. They have the coins in case we need."

"Great, when are we leaving?"

"Everyone is ready except you, so hurry up."

"Don't rush me."

"I won't if you move a little faster."

Everyone that could apparate, apparated to Godric's Hollow, everyone that could not, or did not have a license, was helped by the rest. When they arrived, Harry went to his parent's grave, while everyone else looked around. He was there for hours telling them about his last six years, and about how he met his father's old friends- Sirius, Lupin, and Pettigrew. He told them of how he got the map and the invisibility cloak, and how they were useful. He told them that he knew all about them, and that he got his father's Quidditch abilities, all about his own friends, and what he was doing with the horcruxes.

"I do not know where any more could be, any suggestion?" Harry asked the grave of his parents. I didn't think so-," Harry started to say, but was cut of by something that caught the corner of his eye.

He saw what looked like a building that was burned down, or exploded. He did not know why, but he felt himself lifted off where he was sitting, and walking over to there. He gestured to Ron and Hermione that they should come with him, but told everyone else to stand guard. He saw a small opening and started to go into it.

"Are you sure about this?" Hermione asked looking around at the path Harry was taking.

"Yes and no. I am not sure it is safe, but I am definitely going into it," Harry answered ducking under what was left of the walls.

Ron finally opened his mouth, "Where are we?"

"I do not know. I assume that the owner is either dead, or that they live somewhere else now. It looks like it might be-," Harry was cut off by the sight of one of his soldiers. A little angrily he said, "I thought I told you to wait outside."

"You did. There are people outside that do not want us in here. They said they were going to use force soon," reported Neville, not looking scared at all.

"Who are they?"

"I do not know, but they are wearing hoods. I think they are Death Eaters."

"We must be somewhere that we shouldn't be," he told Ron and Hermione. Completely military-like, and to Neville, "How many are there? Are we out numbered with twelve? Should we send for more soldiers? Do we need more than just our own army?"

"There are about fifteen, so we are out numbered, and they might be a little dangerous, but I think the rest of our army will do."

Harry turned to Ron, who did not need instructions, but just disappeared into the air. Harry turned to Hermione, who was a little scared, but was clutching her wand in front of her chest. Deciding that she did not need directions, Harry turned to Neville.  
"Shoot up red sparks, and get ready to fight like when we were at the ministry, but this might be harder. Neville, this will slow you down, but help the others," turning back to Hermione while Neville left, "Let's go before they destroy our troops."

Just as they left the area, Ron appeared with the other 18. Everyone except Fred, George, and Luna, looked completely scared. Luna, though, just walked up to Harry and asked what they were needed for, and how she might help.

"Everyone, Neville informed me that we are under attack by the Death Eaters," most people gasped at this peace of news, but got out their wands and tried to remember some spells. "Follow your captains. They will follow me."

Harry, wand held high, crept into view of his own division. He saw that the hooded wizards were in fact, Death Eaters. They each had their wands falling to their sides, as if they thought that their enemy had no chance. Harry thought that they were probably right. He motioned to his army that they should stay perfectly quiet, and that they should get ready to attack when Harry attacks. Some nodded in understanding, and others turned even whiter and had to hold their mouths not to make a sound.

Harry moved a little to the right so that the burned building would not be in his way. He thought of something that might work. He, very quietly, told Hermione to lead her group around the building and get ready to surprise the closest enemies. He told Ron to stay where he was, and that Harry was going to go out in the open. He said that Ron should surprise the other side of the Death Eaters, and be very quiet about it.

When Hermione disappeared from view, Harry took a deep breath, and held out his wand. He stepped out into the open and just before one of the Death Eaters finished the Killing Curse directed at Dean, he shouted:

"_Stupefy_."

He caught them off guard, and the Death Eater fell to the floor, and only had the chance to say "_Avada._" The rest of the Death Eaters recovered quickly, and flew all kinds of spells in his direction. He hid behind the building where Ron was eagerly waiting, but told him to keep waiting. He shot blue sparks as high into the air as he possibly could. He knew instantly that his army saw the sparks, because he heard spells being yelled, and Death Eaters hitting the ground. He turned to see that a few of the Death Eaters managed to escape the spells, and that they were firing back. He also saw, to his horror, that some connected. He ran out of his hiding spot shooting up green sparks, before anyone else got hurt. Ron's division ran out behind him, and shot spell after spell at the Death Eaters. Only a few hit, though, because most of their hands were shaking. To his surprise, a pleasant surprise, most of the Death Eaters were on the ground. Hermione had managed to stun a few, and Neville helped the second that Harry caught their attention. There must have been very few left, because the ones that were left on their feet disapparated. Only one Death Eater was left, on her feet, and staying where she was. She removed her hood, and Harry was filled with a hatred that he never felt before. Harry was determined to get revenge for his godfather's death this time. No chasing, Bellatrix Lestrange was standing right in front of him. She was not looking at anyone other then Harry. She obviously decided that he was the only one worth paying any attention to.

"We meet again, Harry Potter," she said with a slight laugh in her voice. "You sent these little kids to fight off fifteen well trained servants of the Dark Lord?"

"We did not know that you were going to be here, but to answer your question, yes I did. I have complete trust in them, and they seemed to have done their job well, seeing as you are the only one left," most of his army were offended by her comments, and started to advance, but Harry, not knowing why he was giving up the opportunity, shook his head.

"There is no more Dumbledore to help you, no more statues to hide behind, and no way out. You are unprotected, Harry, but don't worry, I won't kill you."

"Yeah, you will leave that to Voldemort."

"Don't say that name," she shouted raising her wand and advancing on Harry, who held his ground.

"Like you said, you will not kill me, because you will leave that to Voldemort."

"DON'T SAY THAT NAME."

"I will say anything that I want to, and you can't do anything about it," it sounded a little childish, but got the same effect.

Bellatrix froze where she was, but kept up her want and started to laugh. "I will enjoy watching the Dark Lord punish you. You won't even stand a chance,"

"Then why did I survive four times already?"

"You know those were all luck, but now the Dark Lord knows what to do and will kill you easily. If any of these little kids get in his way, he will kill them all. Do you really want that to happen to your friends?"

"And you think that he will be happy that you were defeated by a few 'little kids,'" he said using the words that she used. He saw that Hermione had one of their special coins, but could not see what she was doing.

"He will understand that we did not know you were hiding like cowards behind the broken down building."

"But if you were guarding something, and wanted us out, you must have thought that there was a chance it would be stolen."

"We are only guarding because we were told to."

Hoping that Voldemort was listening to their conversation, but would not join in, he said, "So you did not think that something you didn't know, but were told to guard, was very important. You were obviously not doing a good job. You must not have thought that it was worth it."

Bellatrix stammered looking around as if Voldemort was going to pop in and agree with Harry. "N-n-n-no, we were guarding the best we could."

"Then your best is not good enough. I'm surprised that he allowed you to serve him. I would not have picked you if a few kids could get passed you. The same goes for the others who were injured or fled. You obviously do not care enough."

"You are wrong. I spent years in prison to serve him-,"

"But you were caught, that makes you worse."

"I also pledged my service to him the first time, and never lost hope in him."

"Because you were scared."

"No I wasn't," but her wand dropped slightly every time that Harry spoke, and she constantly looked around to see if Voldemort apparated and was angry with her. "I am the only one who was able to dodge the spells here, and I did not flee."

"We are only kids, and we were scared. You said it yourself."

"You had the element of surprise."

"And what about after that? If you were good, you would have recovered and destroyed us, however many we are," her wand dropped again. It was almost by her side now, and she was very pale.

By now everyone in Harry's army was advancing on her, and Hermione stopped playing with the coins ages ago. Harry finally figured out who she was sending a message to. He was glad that she thought of it, he would not have.

"Fine, you want me to finish you off, I will. There isn't anything anyone else can do to stop me. _CRUCI_-," she was cut off by a series of pops.

A few people had apparated, and more were coming by the second. Harry recognized them immediately, and was proven right about who Hermione communicated to. First, Lupin appeared out of thin air, followed closely by Tonks, Moody, and Kingsley. Harry was right; Hermione had contacted the Order to tell them that they were facing Death Eaters, and to help them. Bellatrix, spun on the spot to face the closest member, which was Moody, but was hit in the back by a stunning spell from someone. When Harry turned to see who shot it, he was surprised to see that he wasn't in the Order, but was actually Neville. Lupin went up to Harry and asked him what happened, while the Order sent the other, injured Death Eaters to Azkaban. After, he thanked Harry for the help, and left.


	5. What's This?

Author: SportsNightLover

Title: Harry Potter and his Trusted Followers

Summary: Post HBP. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and others search for the horcruxes. They skip their last year at Hogwarts, so that they can find and destroy all of Voldemort's horcruxes.

Disclaimer: The characters are not, and were never, mine.

After the Order thanked Harry and his army, and told them it would be wise to not do it again, they left. Harry, with everyone following, went back to Hogsmeade and talked over the day's events. They went to the cave, but didn't start practicing like normal. They all crowded around Harry, hoping to hear the whole story.

"Great job, everybody. I couldn't have asked for better," Harry said to his beaming crowd, although he was lying.

He was still thinking about what Bellatrix had said. She said that they had the element of surprise. He knew she was right, and hated himself for thinking it. Even with double the people, and surprise on his side, they only managed to get away with stunning two thirds of the Death Eaters. They had even suffered a few, curable, injuries. Though he wouldn't tell Ron or Hermione any his thoughts.

Collin Creevey was hit by a stunning spell, but seemed to be happy that he was involved, which Harry found a little odd. Peakes was hit in the chest by a stray disarming fleck of light, but was fine after a bit of time. Ron's division was spotted by one Death Eater, and he fired a spell at the oncoming enemies. Ron, being in the lead, was hit, but only in the arm. Harry saw to it that he was fixed, and was thanked by Ron. Harry felt they were lucky that the Death Eaters didn't use Unforgivable Curses like they normally do.

"What were those people doing there?" asked Lee Jordan

"I don't know. We didn't expect them, or we would have brought you all along," Harry explained.

"Who were they?" asked Hannah Abbott, hoping that she had thought wrong.

"Death Eaters," Ron said, obviously annoyed by the stupid question.

"They appeared out of nowhere and were surprised to see us there," Neville helped.

"But what were they guarding, that they didn't want anyone there?" asked Zacharias Smith.

"I don't know," Harry said, and then to himself more than anyone else, "But I am going to find out."

"Can we come, too?" asked Luna. "We know that there might be more security now that we were already there, you might need us." A couple of people agreed, but some stayed quiet, hoping that they were not included.

After a moment's deciding, Harry said "Yes, you all can come, but it is only in case we are attacked. They will be expecting us, so they won't be surprised. We will only be able to win with skills. We'll go back tomorrow in case they try to move whatever is there. Tonight, try to practice what you know, and learn better curses. It is important that we win. Good night."

Harry walked out into the evening's air. They had been talking for so long, that he was surprised it wasn't night yet. Ron and Hermione made to follow, but he just told them that they were needed to help command their divisions, and that they should make up a form of attack. They should try to hide a few soldiers, and have them pop out of nowhere, or behind a Death Eater's back. He went along the streets, only to find empty stores and deserted alleyways. He had a pocketful of galleons, in case he needed anything, and he decided to send a letter to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, to tell them of their adventure, and how they were doing.

_Dear Mr. and Mrs. Weasley,_

_It has been a while since I left with Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, and George, so I thought I should write and tell you everything. Over the summer, we worked on new spells and curses. In case you didn't know, we also got twenty-four more recruits, and are training them as I write._

_We just went to visit my parent's grave when we were attacked by fifteen or so Death Eaters. Don't worry, everyone is fine._

He thought he should get that out of the way before she started to really worry.

_There were only twelve of us, but when the rest arrived, we outnumbered them 2-1. We also surprised them that we were willing to fight, so that helped. Five of them escaped, but we managed to capture ten. We called the Order to help, and they brought the Death Eaters to prison. It turned out to have helped us and stop a few of our enemies._

_A couple of our people came out with bumps and bruises, nothing that can't be mended._

_Sorry to have to worry you like this, but the work has to be done by someone. Hope to bring back your family soon._

_Best wishes,_

_Harry Potter_

While on the subject of writing, he thought he should write a quick letter to Professor McGonagall for all the missing students, especially ones from her own house.

_Dear Professor McGonagall,_

_Sorry that I stole some of your students. If you didn't know where they were, they are with me. Just thought that you should know._

_Harry Potter_

Harry sent the letters with rented owls, and decided to return to bed, hoping that his army was training well without him.

"Harry, get up. We should leave soon," Hermione's voice floated over him, and he felt like going back to sleep.

"Get up, now. We are all ready," Ron voice wasn't the same, but did manage to get Harry to roll out of bed, put on his glasses and stare at his friends.

"What time is it?" he asked while putting on his clothes.

"It is about seven in the morning. We wanted to get an early start," Hermione's soft voice was back, but hinted a little urgency and even a little fear.

Harry grabbed his wand, and walked out of the room, to find his whole army eating breakfast, and waiting for him. They were all clutching their wands, and some looked afraid. A few more than last time looked confident, probably because they won previously. He hoped the confidence would work, like when he tricked Ron into believing he had taken Felix Felicis, and help them do well. He also prayed that they didn't meet any opposition, and especially that no one got hurt.

"My squad is going to go first and check out the area. Hermione's division should wait a minute and then join us. Ron's group should come last, but be on your guard. If fighting erupts, and you appear in the middle of it, you don't have good chances, so be very careful. Let's go team one," Harry shouted and disappeared with a crack.

His soldiers followed him, and appeared back at the cemetery. Harry immediately saw the burned building and told Neville to come with him. He told the rest of his army to stay, assume that they would be ambushed, and tell the same to Hermione. As he approached the building, he heard ten cracks and pops, and knew that his second attack team must have arrived. With Neville ready, and wand held high, he searched around the building for hiding Death Eaters. He found none and, very carefully, went into the building. It was as badly burned as ever, and a few spells from last time must have hit it, because more walls were damaged and caved in. He saw what looked like the kitchen, with shattered but elegant plates and long tables. He saw that the cabinet doors were hanging on its hinges and that the cabinets were filled only with more destroyed property. He saw a few of the goblets and cup on the floor, which must have been strong, because they didn't break. Not knowing why, his feet led him to the unbroken cups.

He picked up the first and saw that it was small and emerald. It was stained by the liquids that it used to hold and had an inch of dust on it. He picked up the second, scarlet colored goblet and held it to the sunlight. It was larger than the first, and was dull and rusted. The third one was bright blue, and shined in the sunlight. It was very light, even lighter than the smaller one. He started to walk out when he was blinded temporarily by the sun being reflected off a fourth cup. This one was hidden under wood and piles of the wall. Harry uncovered it, and felt that this little cup must have been the reason that the Death Eaters didn't want them exploring. Sure enough, when Harry bent low over it, he saw that the golden cup had a badger on it, the same one that he saw in Dumbledore's Pensieve. Without expecting it, he had found a horcrux.

Harry did not know what to do. He didn't know if he could touch it, because he remembered Dumbledore's burned hand. He didn't know if it was still a horcrux, or if someone else had destroyed it. He had no idea of what was protecting it, besides Death Eaters and an unattractive building. He tried to use a spell to see what enchantments protected it, but found nothing. He didn't know if it was unprotected, or it just wouldn't show him. He very carefully picked it, and held it in his hand. He didn't feel anything out of the ordinary, it was slightly heavy, but it felt just like the other three. For a split second, he thought that it was the wrong one, but then reminded himself that it was once Helga Hufflepuffs, and that Voldemort wanted it protected by Death Eaters. Harry brought it out of the house, holding it close to him, to make sure that it wasn't going to be harmed.

When he walked out into the daylight, he saw his whole army circling the building. They didn't seem to have been in a fight, or they would have told him, and they happy to see him, assuming that they were leaving. Just as he was about to tell everyone to go home, thirty Death Eaters popped out of thin air. Harry couldn't help himself thinking that Voldemort must have been good to get so many followers, thirty now, ten before, and even a few from the ministry. Harry's army seemed to have noticed them to, but didn't have time to react, because the Death Eaters were angry that they were back and fired spells all over the place. Harry yelled to his army that they weren't needed anymore, and that they could go back to the cave. Now knowing that he just told the Death Eaters were they possibly lived, in a cave somewhere, he knew that he had to fight them. He said to his troops that any who wanted to leave where allowed to, and any who wanted to stay and help should be careful. Twenty two pops were heard simultaneously when twenty two of his soldiers disapparated. Harry was only left with Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna, the ones from the ministry, and Fred and George. Now that the rest of his army left, they were outnumbered almost 4-1. Harry quickly devised an attack plan while dodging dangerous curses.

Assuming that the Death Eaters knew most of them left, he figured that he should leave two of them behind, and they would shoot nonverbal spells from their hiding spot. Ginny, George, and Ron were to attack from the right, while Harry, Neville, and Luna shot off spells from the left. Fred and Hermione were supposed to use only their minds to help out the others. If things got really bad and uncontrollable, they were going to come out of their hiding spot and help.

Fred took out some of the distracting toys that he carried with him, and set them off. While the Death Eaters were temporarily distracted, George threw some darkness powder out, and it helped. For just in the beginning, Harry went out alone and fired spells and curses. He went out alone so that he wouldn't hit his own soldiers. After only a minute though, the powder faded and disappeared. Harry ducked under cover without looking at how many he had hit. He continued with the original plan, and went to left with Neville and Luna.

When he looked around, he saw that he had hit about five of them, which brought their odds to a little over 3-1. He was instantly spotted by at least six Death Eaters, who took no time in using their wands.

"_Petrificus Totalus,_" Harry yelled while he ran out of the way of the Cruciatus Curse. He hit the Death Eater in the chest, who in turn fell straight to the floor.

Another spell smashed into the ground at his feet and he looked up to see a big Death Eater starting to say another Curse. Harry got out of that danger, and ran right into a Death Eater who was about to kill Ron. The Death Eater fell and Harry took the time to stun him. When Ron started to thank him, Harry cut him off and went to help the others. Hermione seemed to have stopped a few Death Eaters from her hiding spot. Fred got one or two, but Neville was really helping. He defeated about three Death Eaters in a row before he was hit by a spell. He fell straight to the floor, and the Death Eater went to finish him off.

"_Stupefy_," the Death Eater fell to the ground to reveal Luna Lovegood standing behind him with her wand raised to where his back was.

"Thanks a lot," Neville said as he got up off the ground and picked up his wand.

Ginny seemed to have escaped everyone's attention, even Harry's, because before he knew it, two Death Eaters fell to the ground with Ginny standing in between. George decided that using his wand was useless, and took to ramming into the Death Eaters when they were near, which only delayed them. They got right back to their feet, but by then, Harry had got to them and they were finished. When Harry thought that his team might need a break, he told them to go back behind the building. Counting their side's wins, he realized that they were now only outnumbered three to two. Just as they were about to attack again, three people popped out of the air right beside them. Harry was happy to see that they were on his side. Katie Bell appeared first and explained that she rethought it, and wanted revenge for the necklace that sent her to the hospital last year. After her were her friends, Angelina and Alicia. That meant that they were only one person short of an even fight. They changed their plans so that the Katie, Angelina, and Alicia should stay behind and attack from the back, and that the other eight were out in the open.

The Death Eaters must have been waiting for them, because the second Fred stepped out, he was hit by a stunning spell and was instantly knocked off his feet. Before the Death Eaters got the chance to finish him, George stepped in to defend his twin brother. He shot spells at anyone who even looked at Fred that was a Death Eater, and helped to move his brother out of harm's way. Before they knew it, the battle had turned in favor of the Death Eaters. After Fred went Ron, who was hit by a spell that no one knew. Neville seemed to fight too hard, and was brought to safety next. By then, Katie, Angelina, and Alicia had taken their places. It was again twelve on eight.

Finally, Harry shot a spell at the back of a Death Eater, who was down in a second. The rest of the Death Eaters looked around and started to advance on Harry, when they were attacked by the other seven. Luna, Hermione, Ginny, and Katie all got one Death Eater each, which meant that Harry now had more soldiers then they did. Harry took out another Death Eater, while George finished off another. Realizing that it was eight to five in favor of Harry, the Death Eater fled once again. Without thinking about just beating thirty Death Eaters, Harry went to help the injured.

Fred was ok, but was unconscious. After making sure that Fred wasn't hurt in any other way, Harry turned to Ron. Ron wasn't hit by a spell or curse, but by a jinx. This being Ginny's area of expertise, she knew what to do and cured Ron right away. Harry couldn't figure out what was wrong with Neville which scared Harry a little, but thought that he wasn't in danger, so he just helped him home.

Once home, he recounted his adventure with the rest of his army, and praised the ones who fought with him. The ones that went back were forgiven.

Harry was glad that he got a horcrux, but still knew that he had a long way to go.

He next went to the headquarters of the phoenix, and told Lupin what just happened. Lupin left instantly, obviously bringing the Death Eaters to jail.


	6. Dumbledore's Help

Author: SportsNightLover

Title: Harry Potter and his Trusted Followers

Summary: Post HBP. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and others search for the horcruxes. They skip their last year at Hogwarts, so that they can find and destroy all of Voldemort's horcruxes.

Disclaimer: The characters are not, and were never, mine.

Harry had one of the horcruxes, and could even hold it, but didn't know what to do with it. He could only ask one person, the person who taught him the important things, Dumbledore.

"But Harry, Dumbledore is..." Hermione reasoned.

"Dead? There are other ways," Harry replied.

"Like what?" Ron joined in.

"You'll see."

Harry, desperately needing help and advice, went back to his favorite school. Hogwarts seemed bigger than when he had last been there. He immediately recognized the towers that were Gryffindor and Ravenclaw's homes. He recognized the huge gate with the chain lock.

Locked gate? He was on the outside with no way in. Luckily, Hagrid was near, and even in earshot. When Hagrid finally heard his many urgent calls, he opened the lock right away. Right after he was in, Harry scolded Hagrid.

"You shouldn't have let me in. I don't go to Hogwarts anymore, so I don't belong here. And, I could have been under the Imperius Curse, couldn't I?" Harry asked.

"No. Yeh can stop the Imperius Curse. Why yeh here anyway?" Hagrid answered, looking completely happy to see Harry.

"I need to see the headmistress. Now."

"OK. Why?" Hagrid said, staring at Harry with a questioning look on his face.

"Just get me there," Harry realized he was rude, and added, "Please."

"Sorry, but I'm busy," he said, even though he looked as though Harry arriving was the most interesting thing that happened all year. "I can tell you the password, if yeh'd like."

"What is it?"

Harry said the password to the familiar gargoyle, and stepped on the moving, spiral staircase that he had been on many times before. When he reached the door, he knocked only once. Professor McGonagall's stern voice floated through the cracks in the door, letting him enter.

The room was only slightly different, with few objects gone. Fawke's perch was gone, along with the phoenix. Harry wasn't surprised, because he saw Fawkes leave a few months ago. He was surprised to see a different object gone. The only known relic of Godric Gryffindor was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's the sword? It was always here," Harry asked, pointing at the empty glass case.

"Don't worry about that, Potter. Since you left, I thought you were gone for good. Why are you here?" she asked, surprised to see Harry was the one to enter her office, not a teacher. "And why have you taken most of my students?"

"It isn't most, and they are helping me. I didn't come to talk to you," Harry snapped, feeling like he was wasting his time.

"Then why are you here? There is no one else to talk to here."

"I have come to talk to him," Harry was now pointing at a blank portrait.

"As you can plainly see, Albus is out right now…"

"I can wait….So who replaced the missing teachers?" Harry asked making conversation while he waited.

"If you are going to stay here, don't talk," she said, looking down at her pieces of parchment.

Harry didn't have to wait long, because Dumbledore appeared in his frame a few minutes later. He looked exactly like when he was living, but Harry could only see his head. He still had silver hair and a silver beard. He didn't seem to notice Harry, and just started to talk to other portraits. Dumbledore soon spotted Harry, because all the other portraits were staring at him, making conversation difficult, and drawing Dumbledore's gaze.

"Harry, how are you?" he asked as if he were alive in the room.

"Fine," Harry answered briskly and business-like. He got up and walked to Dumbledore and said, not afraid of McGonagall hearing, "I need you to tell me something. What do I do with the horcruxes once I find them?"

"Have you found one?"

"Yes. What do I do with them?"

"I don't know. It changes for each one. Which one have you found?"

"This one," Harry said, while he took a golden goblet from a bag that he brought with him, ignoring McGonagall's look of surprise.

"Where did you find it? I've been looking for that for some time now."

"I don't know where. I found it in ruins near the cemetery in Godric's Hollow."

"Ah, yes. I should've known. Good work, Harry. I am very impressed. What have you done to it so far?"

"Nothing but pick it up, sir. I just got it, I came straight over."

"I want you to try something."

When he finished telling Harry the really complicated charm, Harry tried it. It didn't work the first time because Harry was better at spells, but ended up getting it all the same. The charm showed a few of the spells placed on the cup. The spells were Muggle repellents and some to make it so that you can't drink from it. Dumbledore told Harry exactly how to counter these obstacles, and what to do next. Harry was supposed to shatter it into as many pieces as possible. He did so, and was pleased to see that it worked.

"Well done, good job," Dumbledore said, grinning broadly. "That makes the total of destroyed horcruxes four."

"Three," Harry corrected. He then remembered that Dumbledore didn't know that the locket was a fake, and answered the question before it was asked, "The locket wasn't the one that we were looking for. When I later looked at it, it was smaller and didn't have Slytherin's mark. When I opened it, there was slip of parchment inside that said it was already stolen by R.A.B. Do you know who that is?"

Dumbledore's eyes were wide, realizing that he died for a fake horcrux, and that he didn't know where else to find it. He shook his head to answer Harry's question. He would do all that he could to find out, but right now, he didn't have a clue. Harry remembered that he carried that locket around with him, and he took it out of his pocket. He walked up to the portrait, as close as he could, and showed the locket to Dumbledore. Harry showed him the size and bareness of the front and back. He then opened it, and read out the note. When Dumbledore finished praising him again for his good work, he left his frame. Harry put away the locket, and looked down at the broken horcrux.

"I will take care of it, Potter," McGonagall said from behind Harry.

"Thank you, Professor." And with that he left.

He left the school grounds and disapparated back to Hogsmeade. He then told the rest of his army that they had achieved part of their goals. They all cheered, and their confidence was boosted. Harry allowed them to have a few butterbeers before turning in. He fell asleep, feeling that the path in front of him just got a little shorter.


	7. His Worst Nightmare

Author: SportsNightLover

Title: Harry Potter and his Trusted Followers

Summary: Post HBP. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and others search for the horcruxes. They skip their last year at Hogwarts, so that they can find and destroy all of Voldemort's horcruxes.

Disclaimer: The characters are not, and were never, mine.

To one of my reviewers:

ForeverUsed- I agree with what you said, and maybe I will put more of their thoughts in later chapters. But for now, I am sticking to the action part of the story. If you want more thoughts and feelings, not action, you could look at another one of my stories, Goodbyes, although it has a different plot.

For all my other reviewers, past and present, I thank you for taking the time to review.

And now, back to the story.

"_You are defenseless, Potter," Voldemort's high voice sent chills down Harry's back. "Get up."_

_ Harry obeyed the command, leaving the floor he had just knelt on. He was just kneeling in front of Voldemort, due to the Imperius Curse. As he got up from the floor, he remembered why he how he had got there. Voldemort had found out about Harry's feelings for Ginny, and used her to bring Harry to him. Fearing that Voldemort would hurt her, Harry came with his wand held out in front of him, poised for battle._

_ When he arrived at his destination, he was met by only one Death Eater, who had Ginny in front of him, blocking any spells Harry would send his way. Using Ginny as a hostage, the Death Eater forced Harry to give up his wand. He was then lead into Voldemort's new house, and had to watch as Voldemort killed Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the Weasley's, minus Ginny, the Order, and then finally, very painfully, he killed Ginny. This weakened Harry enough to be susceptible to the Imperius Curse, which brought him to his knees, and bowing to Voldemort._

"_Good job, Potter," Voldemort said, mocking enthusiasm. "Now, I will take you off the Imperius Curse."_

_ He flicked his wand lazily, releasing Harry from his spell. Once he had freedom, he looked at the Death Eaters. Harry recognized Snape immediately, and was disgusted. He next noticed Malfoy, father and son. He soon saw Lestrange, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle, and almost thirty more. Seeing Lestrange made him realize that even though he put her in jail, she must have broken out again. He turned back to Voldemort._

_ The last thing he saw where those red slits where eyes normally were. Harry felt his scar burn, meaning that Voldemort was happy._

"_Obviously he's happy, he is about to kill the Chosen One, that must feel really-," Harry thoughts were interrupted by the fact that he was hit in the chest by the Avada Kedavra Curse. He could hear laughter, and feel his eyes close as he hit the floor, and then everything went dark._

Harry awoke with a start. He sat straight up in bed. He just had the same nightmare that plagued his dreams for the past month. It was only six o'clock in the morning, and everyone was probably still asleep. He knew he couldn't fall back asleep, so he didn't try. And besides, he didn't want to relive that dream for the fortieth time in a row. He got out of bed, and made his way down to the cave. He knew that he was taking a huge risk in carrying on with so many people. But they had accepted, he kept telling himself, they knew the dangers.

Why had he asked? Why had he put so many of them in danger? Why didn't he just stick to Ron and Hermione, or at most add Fred, George, and Ginny? It tore at him, thinking that he could be responsible for the deaths of thirty young adults, just because he had a crazy obsession with killing Voldemort.

He listed every one of his soldiers. It seemed that he was friends with more than three-quarters of the army. There was only a few that he didn't know as well, but still hoped that they came out alive. If anything happened to any of them, he would forever feel guilty, and he would know that he put them in harm's way, when he probably didn't need them. He would especially miss Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny, Neville, and Luna, the ones that were willing to serve him in anyway that he needed.

As he left the building, and strolled along the deserted streets, he felt miserable, even though he just destroyed a horcrux. To make things even worse an owl flew to him. Who would want to write to him? Maybe Lupin, his heart leapt. It wasn't Lupin.

_Dear Harry,_

_ I have her. Come get her at the place you just were. You know where that is._

_ L V_

"Who is L V?" Harry thought, and then he yelled, not caring how early it was. "No!"

Voldemort had found out about Ginny, and had taken her.

And then Harry woke up. But wait, he was already awake. It wasn't a dream, and the letter was still in pieces on the floor after Harry ripped it up. His worst nightmares had come true. He knew this might happen, but tried to push it out of his mind, and pretend it wasn't possible. He could almost feel his heart splitting in two. That was lost in all the rage and hatred that build up inside of him. He remembered that Voldemort killed his parents, and that his Death Eaters killed Cedric Diggory, Sirius, and Dumbledore. Now he had Ginny, for the second time, and was probably going to kill her, too.

He knew he had to go alone, because he didn't want to endanger the others. Just in case Voldemort tracked the owl, he told Hermione to be on her guard. He couldn't tell Ron, because he would want to come on the rescue mission. After telling Hermione to be on the lookout, but not telling her where he was going or why, he apparated back to Godric's Hollow cemetery. He needn't look very far, because he saw that the burned down building had miraculously become whole and useable. He noticed that the lights were on, and knew that was where Voldemort had taken Ginny. He was aware of the possibility of a trap, but he couldn't take the chance of leaving Ginny in Voldemort's hands.

He walked around the building to find the door. There were two Death Eater's stationed at the door, both of whom had their wands out, but wouldn't try to attack Harry. He knew they were not allowed to curse him, and took this opportunity to stun them both. He was glad to see that neither of them were the ones he had sent to prison, like in his dreams. He looked through the window for any caution of what was going on inside, but the curtains were drawn. He slowly knocked on the door, and hid in case he was attacked. He wasn't, the door just opened, no one was opening it from inside. He was again in the kitchen, where there was another Death Eater. Harry easily did a body-bind spell, and left him motionless on the floor.

The inside of the building was repaired as well. He recognized the plates, but this time they were full. He recognized the tables, with all four legs, and chairs around it. He noticed the cabinets were in better condition, and the other cups were in their own places.

He continued on into the living room, where he saw something that stung his eyes. Ginny lay down frozen, but her eyes stared out, directly into Harry's. They pleaded for help, but at the same time looked worried. Harry was met by twenty or so more Death Eaters, who all had their wands pointing to various parts of Harry's body. They parted, making way for their master. They each bowed and kissed his feet, and then resumed their position. Voldemort didn't take any notice to his Death Eaters, but had his snake-like features staring Harry in the face.

He was under a long, green cloak, green representing Slytherin, no doubt. He was under a hood, but his pale face still shone in the early morning sun. He stared straight at Harry, making Harry freeze. He felt like his moment was here, he had to do it now. But how could he? There were so many Death Eaters waiting to move in for the kill. They had hunger in their eyes, and they wanted Harry's blood almost as much as Voldemort himself.

He couldn't stop the fear that crept over him, crawling in every single inch of his body. He felt himself shaking, uncontrollably. Voldemort noticed this, and laughed with his shrill, high-pitched, skin-prickling laugh, that made goose bumps go up and down Harry's arms, and the hair rise on his neck. He couldn't use his wand, or else the Death Eaters would kill Ginny along with him. He couldn't let that happen, he was here to save Ginny, even if that meant giving his own life. He had to do it.

Although the thing is, he had no idea how he was going to save Ginny, and hopefully himself, too. He looked around for anything that would help, but nothing popped out at him. He just had to delay for as long as he could.

"How did you find out about her?" Harry asked, trying to keep his voice steady, and his teeth from chattering.

"I have my ways," Voldemort responded, with nothing more.

"How did you find her?"

"Tell me why I should answer that?"

"If you are going to kill us, I would like to know how you did it."

"It doesn't work that way," Voldemort said, still staring Harry in the eyes.

Harry stared right back, although he wanted to look away. He managed to say, "If you knew where she was, why didn't you just get me yourself?"

"It's better this way, more blood."

"I see," Harry said, saying anything that came to his mind, but still really scared. "If you like more blood, then why didn't you destroy the rest of my army?"

"My Death Eaters are on their way right now," he said, smiling slightly, when death was mentioned.

"Too bad," Harry said, knowing that Voldemort would want the information from him.

"Why is that? All your friends will be murdered in their beds, not having the chance to save themselves."

"I'm sorry to say this," Harry replied, which he wasn't, trying to put on a sad face, "but you are sadly mistaken."

"How is that?" Voldemort asked, trying to hide his surprise.

"My friends are waiting for your attack, and will embrace it with a few spells of their own. It may cost a few injuries on my side, but I would say you just lost a few more Death Eaters."

"Your friends are no match for my Death Eaters, of which there are quite a few."

"Then why did we win twice already? You can't credit all of that to me. My army easily took down your so called great Death Eaters. I would probably just get in their way."

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see Ginny's eyes start to twinkle a little more, seeing that the rest of the group was ready for the attack. She still looked worried, most likely for Harry, and afraid for herself.

"Why did you call me here? Was it just to attack my friends, or is there something I could do for you?" Harry said in the most conversational voice he could muster up.

"Yes, there is something you can do for me.

"And that is?" Harry asked, taken aback by Voldemort answering his question.

"Die."


	8. Voldemort's POV

Author: SportsNightLover

Summary: Post HBP. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and others search for the horcruxes. They skip their last year at Hogwarts, so that they can find and destroy all of Voldemort's horcruxes. PLEASE R&R!

Disclaimer: The characters are not, and were never, mine.

A/N: There is a little switching of whose POV it is in this chapter.

Lord Voldemort lifted his wand, looked into Harry's eyes, and saw very little fear, but mostly the deepest loathing there could be. The little fear that Harry had, Voldemort knew, was purely for his little girlfriend, whose fate was already sealed.

Voldemort laughed inside, "I love this part." He thought to himself, smiling before he could stop himself. "Wait, I don't need to stop myself, I'm Voldemort, the most powerful wizard in the world." And with that, he let out a short laugh.

"What's so funny?" Harry asked, obviously delaying for time.

"You wouldn't understand," Voldemort said truthfully, not caring how much he told Harry, considering he was about to die.

Voldemort abruptly stopped laughing. "This is the time," he thought, "the moment I've been waiting for. It's been more than sixteen years since this little brat escaped me, and now he shall pay."

Voldemort had already raised his wand to Harry's eye level, and was preparing to kill him. "This is the time that he would be saved," Voldemort continued in his mind, looking around. "There's no one here, so my plans must have been perfect. His stupid little friends must have all been wiped out by my Death Eaters, and the Order is too afraid to help. Nice to know." he thought. Again, Voldemort laughed out loud.

"Avada Kedavra!" he shouted, while a red light shone around the room, and a thud was clearly audible.

"Wait a minute, the killing curse is green, not red," Voldemort thought so loud that he almost said it.

He looked around to see that the Death Eater closest to him had been stunned and fell to the ground, causing the thud. He saw the rest of his Death Eaters aim shots out the windows, and pitifully miss. He then realized his killing curse must have been dodged.

"Must I do everything myself?" he asked, this time out loud, pointing his wand at the red-haired boy shooting spells at his guards, and the brown-haired girl at his side. His spells were deadly accurate, and the boy and girl flew into the air, and fell feet away.

"RON!" Harry yelled after shooting his spells at the Death Eaters while they were distracted. "HERMIONE!"

"Expelliarmus," Lucius Malfoy said, as if nothing happened.  
Harry's wand flew back into the kitchen, and he couldn't get it because half the Death Eaters remembered what their job was. The other half was still engaged in fierce battle.

"Damn it," Voldemort thought to himself, realizing that Harry's friends actually beat his well-trained Death Eaters. Granted he sent his worse, but still, he sent a number of them.

Voldemort looked to see how much Harry was smirking, but was surprised to see that he was wide-eyed and counting on his fingers.

"Twenty, twenty-one, plus Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and me, that makes only twenty-five. Where are the other five?" Harry said, not caring who heard.

"I got five of them, that's great," thought Voldemort, and then the other side rallied back. "_Five lousy teenagers is it. With all of my Death Eaters, it should have been all thirty_."

"That's true. And, they didn't leave the fight to just join another, so they must have won. And, they wouldn't have been happy unless they had saved their homes from every one of my Death Eaters. So I could count on twenty-five less Death Eaters, maybe a few more. It depends on how many fled this time," his first side agreed. He finally snapped back to attention, and looked around him.

There were ten Death Eaters lying face first on the floor, "Why didn't they win?" Again, his other side argued.

_It doesn't matter right now, they will be dealt with._

That's right, and the others have filled their places.

_How many of the others?_

All of them. Why?

_Even the one that held the little girl, and none of them are making sure Potter doesn't escape?_

You're right, they're _all_ fighting, and the girl is gone, but Harry isn't.

_Really?_

Yeah, he got his wand back, and he is now joining the fight from inside.

_Don't you think you should stop him?_

That would be a good idea.

_Hurry, he saw you grab your wand._

It doesn't matter, I'll catch up.

_True_.

With his internal argument now subsiding, he leapt off the throne-like chair he was sitting on, and began to walk outside. He was met by no one, but saw that his guards from before were on the ground, obviously stunned. He laughed, knowing that Harry did this, and thought that if he only stunned them, he would be no match for Voldemort. He continued around the house. The fresh morning air was full of shouts as spells were yelled and lights as they erupted from the wands. And then, everything went silent.

"What happened?" Voldemort thought. "Based on their performances from a minute ago, my Death Eaters wouldn't have won yet."

"Go find out," Voldemort heard the voice in his head say.

As he rounded the building, he saw that all of his enemies looked happy, and were picking up their wounded as if they had won. Voldemort noticed that the girl was leaning against Harry for support, and before he could get a spell off, the whole army disappeared with a few cracks and pops, breaking the new silent air.

"How could he get away again?" Voldemort asked to no one, as he went to check on how badly his Death Eater's lost.

He went inside to see that every one of his Death Eaters had been hit by a spell. They were elementary spells and could be fixed, but why weren't they good enough to be blocked and why were his Death Eaters the ones who lost, not the other side?

"Who's injured, and how many are there?" Harry asked the second he got back from the graveyard.

"There are a lot this time, Harry," Neville was the first to answer, looking like he wasn't even in the fight, because he was completely unscathed and was smiling.

"How many?"

"Seven," Luna answered this time.

"Seven?" Harry almost shouted. Then he sighed. "That's too many. Who are they?"

"Dennis Creevey was hit by something, and he still hasn't gotten up, but there's a pulse," Neville said, "Some Ravenclaw girl, who was knocked off her feet, but she doesn't look too bad. McLaggen was hit by a stunning spell, because he was too busy shouting out orders. It hit him in the arm, and there it's oozing. Zacharias Smith was hit by some spell, and he has a broken leg."

"Serves him right," Luna said. Harry looked at her questioningly, curious what he did to her.

"A Hufflepuff, who was fine, but a little dizzy, and Ron and Hermione were also hit by something that we can't figure out, but they seem to be fine. Everyone else cured themselves," Neville continued.

"Where are they?" Harry asked immediately.

"Who?" Luna asked.

"Ron and Hermione."

"Right in here," Fred said, emerging from one of the rooms, and pointing through a door opposite him.

Harry walked in to find his two best friends lying on beds, eyes closed, but fear still in their faces. George was sitting near Ron, and rose when Harry walked in the room.

"What happened? You where in there when it happened, right?" George asked quickly.

"Yeah, I was," Harry said, staring down into the faces of Ron and Hermione. He thought to himself, 'Why couldn't you just stay here? Why couldn't you just stick to the Death Eaters? Why did you have to try and save me?'

"Well, who shot it?"

"I'm not sure, I was trying to shoot the Death Eaters from up close, but I think it was Voldemort." George gasped, obviously thinking the same thing Harry was, that if Voldemort shot it, it must have been dangerous.

In a shaky voice, George asked, "How many did we get?"  
"I'm not sure, but last I saw, there was about fifteen on the floor, then Voldemort went after me, and I went back to you guys."

After seeing if he could recognize the curse, which he couldn't, he left to check on the others. Dennis Creevey wasn't hit by anything major, it was simple to apply the counter curse, and heal him quickly. The Ravenclaw was just stunned, and was fine in a matter of minutes. McLaggen was oozing fast, but could be healed in an instant, and was harshly yelled at by Harry for giving directions to his army. Neville was right, and the Hufflepuff had nothing medically wrong. Zacharias Smith's broken leg wasn't really broken, just slightly fractured. He made a bigger deal out of it than he should have, and barely thanked Harry when he put it back to normal. Harry then ran back to Ron and Hermione to see how they were doing. Since he was gone, they had awoken, and they were now sitting up, and seemed to be perfectly fine.

"Hey, Harry," Hermione said, the second he entered the room.

"How are you guys?" Harry asked.

"We're fine," Ron answered for Hermione.

"Good, because I think that curse, or whatever it is, came directly from Voldemort."

"So?" Ron said, seeming more afraid of Harry saying the name, than Voldemort himself.

"So, he is the most powerful of any of them, and wouldn't care about using dangerous spells. Whatever it is, you guys aren't allowed to help us for a few weeks, just in case."

Ron and Hermione made to protest but Harry just left. He wouldn't have stopped them from helping, if he weren't afraid of them getting hurt again. Hermione was supposed to be one of the best, and if she could get hurt, what about the rest of them? He walked into the room that Fred had left before, because he now knew that was where Ginny was.

"Ginny, how are you?" Harry asked, searching her for any signs of missed injury.

"I'm fine, thanks to you," she replied, smiling.

"How did he find out? How could he have known?"

"I don't know, but we're all safe, right?"

"For now, but he might just go after you again. And now he knows where we are staying, we will have to move."  
"Come on, let's go to the cave, everyone is waiting for us. Don't worry, I'll protect you," she said, fighting back laughter. Harry however, did laugh.

When they got to the cave, Harry first asked what happened while he was gone. Hermione answered, telling him that she had heard the Death Eaters apparate, and immediately woke the others. Once everyone was up, they attacked the Death Eaters, of which there were twenty. His army outnumbered them, and surrounded them. They shot curses from out in the open, in hiding, from behind, and even right in front. The Death Eaters were uncoordinated and just tripped over each other. They beat them easily.

"Why did you come help me? And how did you know where I was?" Harry asked.

"We thought you needed help, and we found your letter," Ron replied.

"I thought I ripped that up."

"And we put it back together," Fred said from behind Neville.

Harry then told them most of what went on when he was alone. They seemed in awe that he managed to stay alive that long, and save Ginny. He then put them to the task of finding a new place to stay, considering that the place would be swarming with Death Eaters soon. They went to bed thinking about it.


	9. Hogsmeade Attack

Title: Harry Potter and his Trusted Followers

Disclaimer The characters are not, and were never, mine.

Harry woke up later than he normally did, but still a little early. He hoped that his team had a good suggestion of where they could stay, because he hadn't come up with anything. He went and got some breakfast, and was surprised to see that he wasn't the only one up.

"Hey Harry," Hermione said, looking up from a book she was reading.

"What are you reading?" Harry asked, unable to see the title.

"Nothing in particular. I was hoping to find a place where we could move," she replied, going back to her book.  
"No luck?"

"Nothing, but I have been thinking."  
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Harry asked, smiling at himself.

Hermione just glared, and then continued. "Maybe we shouldn't move."

"WHAT? Are you crazy? This place will be surrounded by Death Eaters, maybe in less than an hour," Harry yelled, completely not understanding her logic.

"Yes, it will. And no, I'm not crazy. I think that it would be the perfect opportunity to stand up to them. And, if we're gone, what's stopping them from attacking Hogsmeade itself?" Hermione said calmly.

Harry thought about this for a second, but still couldn't believe they wouldn't leave. "Voldemort will send all his most loyal followers, and the strongest ones at that, and may even come himself. And you want us to just stay here and wait to be killed?"

"And when we leave, what happens to Hogsmeade?"

"I don't know, but I'm not going into that kind of danger, without knowing what to expect, or when to expect it," Harry said, angry that Hermione brought this dilemma to his attention.

"I've talked it over with Ron, and he said that he agrees, and would rather stay and fight."

Harry just continued to eat the meal he had conjured up, but barely tasted it, thinking hard about what to do. He thought about the consequences of both possibilities:

If we stay, there's a BIG chance that Voldemort and his Death Eaters come and fight with us, which will be very damaging.

_And if we leave, Hogsmeade will be vulnerable to a direct attack, and we give up an opportunity to capture the largest amount of Death Eaters than ever before._

But if we stay, and protect Hogsmeade, there will be many injuries, and most likely deaths. That will make it impossible to capture the Death Eaters.

_You underestimate your army's capabilities._

You underestimate the Death Eater's training.

_You have a perfect record against them, and this is your chance._

"I'll think about it, but if ANYONE doesn't want to do it, then we leave," Harry said to Hermione, who was delighted and ran out of the room at top speed.

"Hurry, they might be here soon," Harry called after her, and finished his meal in a debate with himself.

Harry went to the cave after breakfast, for a place to think, but instead, it was filled with all of his soldiers. Everyone looked tired, but a little excited. 'Obviously Hermione told them already,' Harry thought to himself, as everybody turned their heads in his direction.

"Harry, we all want to stay," Fred said, causing Harry to jump, due to the fact that he said it from behind him.

"Really?" Harry asked, surprised at the willingness of going into almost certain death.

"Yeah, we do. And besides, we couldn't think of any place to go," Neville said, joining Fred's side.

"See Harry, we all want to fight," Hermione said, looking really happy.

"All right everybody, they should be here soon," Ron said, taking command from Harry.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked, completely surprised that his army actually followed the directions.

"Well, if you aren't going to take charge and get ready, I thought that I would help."

"Uh oh," Harry said, ignoring everything everyone was doing to get ready.

"What?" Hermione asked, concern creeping onto her face.

"That," Harry replied simply, pointing out of the small opening of the cave.

Hermione gasped, but tried to make it as silent as possible, given the situation. Ron didn't know what was going on, but soon found out, as he looked for himself. He saw what was catching their attention, and immediately spread the word.

He whispered to everyone, "Shh, they're here."

"Who?" Luna asked, following his lead and whispering. Ron just pointed to where the Death Eaters were appearing out of nowhere.

Many of Harry's army got really pale, while others quickly got out their wands, and prepared for what was to come. Harry finally looked away, realizing that he needed to do something. He took command, and told everyone that the Death Eaters didn't know where they were, and probably just thought that they had fled the place, so they needed to be extra quiet, and sneak up on them again. Some nodded, while others secretly prayed that they came out alive.

The Death Eaters took their time searching, as they were expecting to be attacked, but they ended after an hour. Harry knew that they would assume that they had searched well enough, and now would not longer be expecting an attack. They would just settle for terrorizing Hogsmeade. When the Death Eaters had motioned to each other that they had thoroughly checked every shop and street, Harry told his own division to secretly surround most of the Death Eaters, since some where off double checking their work. They were outnumbered by fifty or more Death Eaters, so he couldn't afford to leave out Ron or Hermione. Hermione was to take her people and attack the extras head on. Ron was to wait with his soldiers for the signal and then help, wherever that may be. Hermione left first, hoping to eliminate the possibility for others to join Harry's fight. Ron gave Harry some of his best men to help him, who would be outnumbered. He graciously accepted the offer, and headed straight into the darkest place he could find. His soldiers followed him.

The Death Eaters were discussing all the areas they checked, hoping that someone forgot a place, so they could find their enemies. By the time Harry and his army had surrounded the area unseen, the Death Eaters were talking about what they should do before returning to Voldemort. Harry signaled to everyone that on the count of three, every one of them was to attack the nearest Death Eater at the same time. He held up three fingers, showing his army that they should get ready.

He put down his ring finger, and everyone tensed up. The Death Eaters seemed to have decided they were done for the day, and shouldn't attack Hogsmeade and bring attention to themselves.

He out down his middle finger, showing that they were to have a spell in mind, and only had one second before attacking. The Death Eaters had finished their conversation, and were asking where all their friends were. They were about to turn around and check, as Harry's index finger fell, seemingly in slow motion. All of Dumbledore's Army, or the ones that were with Harry, walked out of the shadows only a second before their victims turned around. The fifty Death Eaters only heard about fifteen shouts, which is how many soldiers Harry had, before twelve of them fell to the ground.

Harry had only petrified his opponent, but heard some stuns yelled, and even a few spells he hadn't heard of. Three of his people had missed, causing some of the walls to be hit instead. As the Death Eaters immediately drew their wands, Harry and five of his smarter friends, fired a second spell, taking out the fastest reacting Death Eaters. The Death Eaters were still twice his age, had twice his experience, and had twice his numbers. Thirty-two to fifteen, to be exact.

One of his soldiers saw their need for help and shot up sparks, wanting Ron and his last four followers to come and help. Almost a second later Ron came in firing, followed by Hermione and all nine under her command. She must have won her battle, which shouldn't have been that hard, considering there were only about two or three Death Eaters left. With these new additions, they doubled their army, but were still outnumbered. Ron and Hermione came in from opposite ends, splitting the Death Eaters into two different groups, forgetting about their original attackers. Harry noticed that the Death Eaters had managed to hit quite a few of his division, before switching targets. While they were occupied, Harry and Ginny were the only ones smart enough NOT to join the fighting, but return to the shadows, and shoot spells from there.

They worked well together, and got five Death Eaters before being found. One of the Death Eaters dodged a direct attack from Harry, and shot his own curse back. Harry barely managed to say the shield charm, which rebounded the spell back at the caster. It hit full force, and knocked him directly to the ground. Ron and Hermione's teams, joined by the rest of Harry's, were doing especially well, and easily took out ten Death Eaters before being pushed back. Harry didn't recognize anyone he was attacking, but kept on going.

After on half an hour of intense battle, victory was Harry's. He had captured forty-two Death Eaters, including Hermione's feat. Ten disapparated, leaving before they too, were sent to Azkaban. He was not able to start celebrating too early, because ten dementors suddenly glided in from the sky. Even with Harry's experience and knowledge of the Patronus Charm, they were still his worst fear. He gulped down an icy breath, as the lights turned off in an instant. He could only make out four, but had a strong feeling there were more than double that. Everyone else was shivering, and weren't able to stop dementors, even though they learned it in the DA.

"Expecto Patronum," Harry yelled at the top of his lungs, hoping his stag would be strong enough to knock out the ten dementors. Only mist this time. He wasn't discouraged, this happened before.

"Expecto Petronum," same result.

They were upon him, seeing he had the only resistance. Harry had a small, but sure feeling that they could sense a little of Sirius on him, like an odor. His vision began to swim, and he heard that hated laugh again. He thought of any happy thought that came to mind, nothing worked. His parents, Sirius, the Order, Ginny, and getting away, individually flew through his mind, all failing. When he put them together, and yelled, "EXPECTO PETRONUM," it worked, and his wand produced that silver stag again. It sped straight at the dementor almost kissing Harry, forcing him back, and continued on until Harry felt that it worked, and they had fled.

The lights had erupted back into the streets, to reveal his army watching him in awe from their cowering positions. He didn't even acknowledge what he just did, but just went back to business.

Harry told every one of his soldiers, including Hermione and Ron, to watch the stunned Death Eaters until the Order arrived, while he questioned one alone. He moved one of the Death Eaters with his wand, and led him to the cave. He quickly snapped the Death Eater's wand in two, making sure he didn't some how regain it, and then bound him by tight robes and unfroze him.

Hermione and Ron were left to check on what injuries there were to their own people, and wait for the Order. They came within in five minutes and gathered up all the Death Eaters together. They left after getting the one Harry had been questioning.

"Harry, what did he say?" Hermione asked right away.

Harry walked up the injured and started working, stopping only to answer her question. "I now know where Voldemort is."


	10. Warning the Order

Title: Harry Potter and his Trusted Followers

Disclaimer and Summary: In previous chapters

"Hello again, Professor," Harry said, as McGonagall opened the gates so that he could enter the grounds. "Sorry we must have these frequent visits."

"I assume that you need to see Dumbledore, like last time," McGonagall answered, already taking off to her office.

"No, actually I'm here to see you," Harry said.

McGonagall stopped in her tracks, obviously surprised that he wasn't going to be talking with his trusted mentor. She soon regained her composure and continued. "Is that so? Well, Potter, what can I do for you this time?"

"I don't need anything from you; I just came to warn you about something."

"What would that be?"

"You might want the Order to hear this," Harry replied, walking into the headmistress's office. "And why is the sword still missing?"

"I told you before, don't talk," she said, while throwing floo powder into the fire and talking to the Order members.

"I'm just trying to pass time," Harry explained after she went back to her desk. "I need the WHOLE Order to be here. It doesn't matter what mission they are on or how long it will take them to arrive."

"I happen to know that a few of them won't be able to make it, due to the fact that they are on certain missions that are far more important than anything you need to say."

"You're wrong."

After a few minutes of waiting in silence, she said, "This is everyone that is can come on such short notice."

Harry looked around the room and at the four people waiting for someone to say something. He just shook his head and said, "This isn't nearly enough. I need as many as can be reached, no matter where they are."

In the meantime, Harry looked at who was there. He saw Kingsley and Tonks, who looked like they barely got out of the ministry alive. The other two were Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Harry went right to them, telling them that everything was going all right and that their children where still o.k.

As he was talking, seven more Order members entered through the fireplace. They must have been the ones that brought the Death Eaters to Azkaban. One of them was Lupin, looking tired and worn out, but brightening at the sight of Harry. He was a little confused though, because he had just come from where Harry was, and somehow made it there later.

Moody appeared next, looking as bad and injured as ever. His magic eye continually moved around the room while the normal eye moved from one member to the next, finally stopping on Harry.

"What's he doing here?" he growled.

"He would be the reason that we are all here." McGonagall turned to Harry, "Is this enough?" she asked with annoyance in her voice.

Harry thought for a minute, and then answered slowly, "It is for now, but when I'm done, you will be tracking down every person you can find."

"Well, get on with it then," Moody pressured.

"As a few of you know by now, me and my, er, friends were attacked by fifty Death Eaters a few hours ago," a few people gasped. "As you can plainly see, we are alright. I took one of them aside and asked him some questions. He had information that I needed, so I got it out of him.

"The reason that we are here, is because he told me where I could find Voldemort."

"But, Harry-," Lupin began.

"I know. He was probably lying. But he wasn't. I can feel it."

"That ain't possible," Moody interrupted. Harry just pointed to the famously shaped scar that Voldemort left him with since he was a year old.

"But-,"

"Don't ask questions yet. This is nothing compared to what's next." He waited, daring someone to stop him. They all stayed quiet, leaving him to continue. "The reason that I wanted this many people _here_ and _now_ is because Voldemort is planning on attacking Hogwarts directly, in a matter of only hours."

The room was deadly still until Kingsley spoke up. "If we were to believe you, when would he attack and how would he get past the wards?"

"He already has," Harry said, keeping a straight face to tell them that he was completely serious.

"What do you mean, boy?" Moody growled, rising from his seat and getting ready to take immediate action.

"I mean he has been living in the castle for a few weeks now. Of course, he has left, I would know, but that's where he's staying. I am positive that he will make his move today, and it will be soon. I suggest you get as much help here as you can in the next hour or two."

Everyone started talking to each other and a few got up to leave and contact as many people as possible.

"If you need, I can supply you with thirty well-trained and willing fighters." He ended, having caught his audience's attention to the extent of them analyzing every word he said.

"Thirty, you say?"

"Thirty," Harry replied, looking Moody in both eyes.

"Well-trained and on an auror level?"

"Maybe even better."

"Willing? That's hard to find these days."

"They joined on their own free will, and have not left yet. They have trained for months of advanced practice and already captured seventy-seven Death Eaters in three days. We are determined, organized, ready, and experienced. I can have them over here in half an hour."

"O.K. We will give them a try," Moody said, sitting back down.

"I would still suggest that you find as many Order members as you can."

"Right."

"I'll help," Mr. Weasley contributed to the conversation. "Bill and Charlie will come as fast as they can. And, I may be able to persuade a few of my friends at the ministry. They've been thinking about joining the Order for some time now."

"Me, too," Tonks added. "I can try to get a few of the aurors to help, but I might only be able to convince a few."

"I can talk to some of the teachers, but that won't be enough," McGonagall added.

"And we don't know where Voldemort will be," Lupin said.

"I do," Harry replied, freezing everyone's movements. "I know ewxactly where he will be and where he is now, in case you wanted to attack him first."

"Where is he?" Moody asked urgently, already heading for the door.

"You need me."

"You just get your friends, we'll handle this. Where is he?"

"No, you don't understand, you NEED me."

"Just tell me where he is."

"It won't help you; I'm the only one who can open the door."

"We'll see about that, just tell me."

"Fine, the Chamber of Secrets." Everyone stopped anything that they were thinking or saying. Even Moody released his hand from the door and turned to stare at Harry.


	11. Battle at Fort Hogsmeade

Title: Harry Potter and his Trusted Followers Summary and Disclaimer: Last Chapter

_A red light, a blue light, a green light, and a yellow light flashed by from all different directions._

FLASHBACK

**Even Moody released his hand from the door and turned to stare at Harry.**

It was a moment's silence before Moody broke out of his daze and brought what he thought was reason to the table. "What do you mean, boy? The Chamber of Secrets doesn't exist," he growled with complete confidence. "And even if it does, no one knows where it is or how to open it. So just tell me where the real place is and we can start getting things done," he finished strong.

"Actually that's not true," it was McGonagall who found her voice this time. "Harry has personally been inside the Chamber of Secrets, and if memory serves, he is right when he says he is the only one who can open it. Unless of course if you speak Parseltongue."

"Prove it," was all Moody was able to say after being told he was wrong.

Harry made to leave, and was almost at the door, when it burst open. Ron came running in at full speed and almost tripped over the chair Moody had recently vacated.

"Harry, Harry," he said in a rush. "It changed."

"What changed?" Harry worriedly asked. He had specifically told them not to interrupt unless it was an emergency, and he knew Ron would follow that rule. "Did he move? Is everything o.k.?"

"No, he still lives here, but they started attacking Hogsmeade today, not Hogwarts," he finished, barely keeping himself from collapsing on the floor. Obviously he had run straight from the front gate. "Hey ma," he said to Mrs. Weasley, falling into the closest empty chair.

"Oh, and one other thing," Ron continued, "I'm not sure if you heard yet. There's been a prison break and all the Death Eaters are gone. It was bad just hearing it. I heard there were at least twenty dead guards and more injured. There are at least two hundred of them, you gotta come quick."

Harry ran flat out until he got to Hogsmeade. He didn't even bother apparating, running was good enough. The trail had footprints all over it, confirming that Voldemort had come from the castle. It seemed to be a shorter path them normal, but then again, he wasn't walking. When Hogsmeade came into view, he froze, but quickly recovered.

Harry could hear the Order trying to keep up with him, although not going nearly as fast. It seemed that they had stopped, too. They had arrived just in time. Ron was deadly accurate; there were about two hundred or more Death Eaters in a single file line, marching straight into the heart of the town.

"_Harry,_" came a whisper from his right. He turned around thrusting his wand out in front. However, he lowered it the moment he saw Hermione.

"_What happened?_" he also spoke low.

"_They just came in, but I can't explain now. Lucky Ron got to you in time._"

"_Yeah I guess so,_" he whispered, hearing McGonagall and everyone else creep up behind him.

"_Good, you brought help,_" she stated while bringing them over to The Three Broomsticks. "_Everyone's in here._"

Harry walked inside to find his whole army hiding in a corner, alongside ten aurors, and a few of the shoppers. Seeing that the Death Eaters were out of ear shot, and knowing that this was going to turn ugly, he took command.

"Alright everybody, listen and listen good," he firmly said, controlling the situation, causing everyone seem to feel better now that the great Harry Potter was here. "This is the start of the war, and this is where we start to fight back. This is now going to be known as the Battle at Fort Hogsmeade. Yeah, that's right; I'm turning this into a new fort." He waved his wand, surrounding the place with a thick sheet of metal that wouldn't be penetrated easily from the outside. "If anyone here is too scared to fight, that's too bad. I don't care how old or young you are, or if you are experienced or not. As long as you have a wand, you're staying and fighting." He turned around and addressed three specific people. "Mr. Weasley, tell the Ministry what's going on, and bring every single person you can find. Get all the aurors and then some. Moody, get everyone from the Order. EVERYONE. Professor McGonagall, get Hagrid, he'll be able to help us." To get his point across, he didn't even wait a second to say, "What are you waiting for? GO,"

Almost at once, everyone started doing something. Mr. Weasley and Moody apparated to do their tasks, McGonagall left to find Hagrid, and everyone else started talking to each other.

"Enough," Harry shouted to quiet the remaining people. "There isn't any time to start talking or start fearing. Right now, we're up against two hundred Death Eaters or so. I'm not stopping 'till there aren't anymore on this street. I don't care what spells you use, if they are legal, or if they lead to death. All I need is for every one of you to fire at the enemy as accurately as possible and as frequently as possible. Even if they," he pointed at the door, meaning the three that just left, "gather some support, we will still be overwhelmingly outnumbered.

"Everyone forget what we practiced with the divisions. There will be no waiting and there will be complete chaos. Just fight as hard as you can, because if we lose, there will be no more chances," he finished, seeing the Death Eaters turn around and notice the newly boarded up bar. McGonagall hurriedly came back in, Hagrid in her wake.

"Wha' happened?" he asked right away.

"No time," Harry said quickly. "Listen, there are a few hundred Death Eaters out there, and only about fifty of us. We need your help." Hagrid looked frightened, and on the verge of saying no. Without thinking, Harry said, "Remember what they did to Cedric, Sirius, and Dumbledore."

Hagrid's eyes flared at the name of Dumbledore, and his face contorted with anger. "I'm here for wha' ever you need."

"Thanks."

Mr. Weasley returned with only ten new people. "Sorry Harry, everyone had left for the night. These were the only late workers," he said, motioning to the others. "This is-,"

"There's no time for introductions," Harry cut him off. Moody appeared moments later, followed by only twenty Order members.

"They were the only ones I could reach in a short time," he said briskly. "They're almost here," he pointed out the window, directly at the Death Eaters only thirty feet away.

"This is it everyone, the moment that we have been dreading all our lives. There's only one thing to say, and only one battle plan. Fight to the death. Let's go," he said and walked right out into the middle the street.

000000000000000

(Ron's thoughts)

Is he crazy? Absolutely mental? Why would Harry just walk out of the well guarded building with no one to protect him?

(Harry's thoughts)

Am I crazy? Mental? Why would I walk out of the building I just strengthened to fight two hundred Death Eaters with no one to help me? AAAHHHH! That was really close, too close.

(Hermione's thoughts)

Ah! Harry just left by himself to face the Death Eaters. That's never happened before. Well, he is Harry. Oh, that was close. Better go help him.

(Hagrid's thoughts)

Hold on, Harry. I'll be righ' there. (Smash) That door was easier to break than I thought. Who's first?

(Lupin's thoughts)

So this is how he captured so many Death Eaters before. These types of ideas come to him just like his father. WATCH OUT! He needs my help. On second thought, he needs everyone's help. Wow! That door broke easily.

(Moody's thoughts)

That wasn't smart. I can't believe that he doesn't notice there are fifteen dementors flying over him.

(Lupin's thoughts)

FULL MOON! Not now, this is the worst time. I took the potion today, but I'll still be a werewolf with so much blood around. Mmn! That tastes good. No, it's starting already. Actually this might help. I could take care of those werewolves in the back.

(Hagrid's thoughts)

GIANTS! I failed Dumbledore, I failed the order. Better start making up for it.

(Ron's thoughts)

TROLLS! I HATE TROLLS! This is going to be a nightmare.

(Ginny's thoughts)

What is he doing out there? There has never been this many Death Eaters. Hey, where's Fred and George. I didn't see them leave.

(Shoppers' thoughts)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

(Ministry Workers' thoughts)

Why did I have to work late? Why couldn't I have said no? Why was it Mr. Weasley that asked me, not someone that I don't like and wouldn't even stop to listen to? I'm going to die.

000000000000000

Surprisingly, although Harry had run out of the building to face the Death Eaters, they hadn't made a movement to hit him. Their eyes were focused on him, their arms were at the ready, and their wands were already shooting out sparks, seemingly wanting to start the battle and be used.

Seeing an opportunity that would surely not come again, Harry used their odd behavior to launch a series of attacks. He shot some of the simple spells that he learned in his first few years of Hogwarts at them. By the time he had successfully taken out four of them, they fought back with an energy that Harry had never seen before. He ducked into the closest shop, and secretly ran into the dark and threatening forest.

CRASH!

Harry spun around and saw the door to The Three Broomsticks smash outward. Hagrid came tumbling out throwing his hands around trying to knock over some of the Death Eaters. Lupin followed him out, unseen since he was hiding behind Hagrid. Hermione came out next, and behind her was everyone was of his army. Harry didn't notice that Fred and George were missing.

The battle took place while he was held up in hiding. He only succeeded in confusing a few of the Trolls. As the Death Eaters went down, new ones took their place. As the Order went down, Harry was left with less people than before. There was about twenty Death Eaters lying face down on the ground, compared to the ten on the other side. That was still a crucial blow. Two aurors dead, three Order members unknown, and five that seemed to want to take their own life.

Tap, tap, tap.

Harry turned to the source of who was poking him. He breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the twins in their hats, gloves and any kind of toy they could find that they had made. His relief was short-lived though, for the moment he dropped his wand, they started saying things at the same time. Unusually, it didn't make one complete sentence.

"_Hold on,_" Harry whispered, trying not to show the Death Eaters were he was. "_What are you doing out here?_"

Without thinking about his voice level, George signaled to Fred that he would speak. "We went back to get our products, but on the way we heard something you should know."

"What?"

"We heard a scream."

"No one screamed here."

"We know," Fred quickly said, attempting to not take up time. "We think it was from the castle."

Right on cue, a clearly heard, high pitched shriek echoed through the forest. Everyone that was fighting heard the scream and completely stopped. The Death Eaters wore knowing smiles on their faces while the Order and auror's faces were frightened like he thought he'd never see.

Suddenly, he realized what was happening, he knew what needed to be done. He just shouted:

"EVERYONE GET TO THE SCHOOL, I'LL BE THERE SOON! No questions, I'll take care of everything else. GO NOW!"

They all stood still, blankly staring at him, but in the end, trusted him all the same. There was a mad dash as they ran to the castle with determination. The Death Eaters sprinted after them, smiling madly. Hopefully, his friends wouldn't be too mad at his trick. Maybe he could join them soon. He had just set them up. Besides, they still had a chance. There's more places to run, places to hide, and its only continuing the fight. Its for their own good. They would only have been killed unsuspectingly and without chance. If they were going to die, they would die fighting. Like him in only a matter of seconds.

Harry walked to the middle of the road, where there was just an eruption of battle. Fort Hogsmeade was just the beginning. Time for real war.

The Gaints charged. Feeling energy run through his hands, and subconsciously thinking it was the right thing to do, Harry lifted his bare hands out in front of him and pushed the air outward. It had the least likely result. Every one of the Giants flew backward, as if they were flicked by a huge hand. They soared out of sight, probably not thinking about trying anything else any time soon. The dementors didn't try anything, they just floated there, slowly draining Harry of any last emotion he had left. It also use up all of his patience, seeing as he scattered all fifteen in one Patronus charm. They had still done their job, Harry was barely able to stand. He wasn't going to give up, though. Especially after just having learned of a new power he had.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," he taunted.

Appearing out of thin air, although not apparating, was Lord Voldemort. He was also broadly smiling. He had his wand loosely pointed at Harry.

"Here we are. No one to protect you, Harry. No one to save you. No one to _die_ for you this time," Voldemort said, emphasizing the word 'die.'

"I hate to admit it, but you're right. You're absolutely right. There is no one here to disturb a fight, nothing to change the outcome, and no one stopping us from seeing who really will win."

"Its time for the Last Battle, Harry."

"No, I can't kill you yet, so there will be others."

"A bit confident, are we?"

"You should talk."

Without another word uttered, they began to raise their wands and shoot at each other.


	12. Howarts Battle

Title: Harry Potter and his Trusted Followers

Summary and Disclaimer: In first chapter

(In Ron's Point of View)

I was the first one there. Everyone ran to the castle after Harry told us to, but I got there first. I sprinted up the steps, ripped open the door, and went into Hogwarts.

Hogwarts was the same: there were the same decorations, same portraits, and same feeling of magic around. I paid these no attention, though, just searched for whoever we needed to find so we could join up with Harry as quickly as possible.

By the time the rest of my army and the Order showed up, I had found no one on the whole bottom floor. Everyone split up, trying to find some kind of clue as to why we were here in half the time. Some went in pairs, but I decided I should go alone. I thought that I would cover ground quicker.

I reached the Owlery, figuring I should eliminate the bigger rooms in Hogwarts first. All the birds were fine and the place was exactly like the last time I had been in it. It didn't have that eerie feeling like when you know you are in the right place, but you don't know what you are doing, looking for, or what to do next. It was completely normal.

I turned to leave, but found five armed Death Eaters ready. It was hard to dodge their spells, and I'm not the best at shield charms, but I managed to get out alive. I used one of the Marauder's Map passages, and ran away from that fight.

But I thought the Death Eaters were back at Hogsmeade. They must have followed us here, which means that there are hundreds more. They probably followed everyone individually, allowing for an easier defeat.

I went to the only place I could think of that might shelter me for a few minutes and let me regroup. The Room of Requirement opened when I did the necessary steps, revealing a room full of people. The old DA had also come here. I walked in and noticed that almost everyone was here. I was one of the last to get there. As I walked in, I realized that Hermione wasn't here. And neither was Ginny.

They came running in together, looking over their shoulders as if they were being chased. It appeared that they were, because a spell went flying inches away from Ginny's face as they shut the door. The Death Eaters didn't know how to open the door, which bought us time, but not a lot. And anyway, we needed to help the Order.

"Everyone," I talked softly, although my voice echoed around the deadly silent room. All heads and eyes turned my way. "This is us against the Death Eaters now. And I think they know where we are," I paused and listened closely. "Yeah, they know. We only have a few minutes to get ready. So get ready.

"There are a few hundred of them out there, so I can't guarantee that any of us will live. But I can be sure that we'll die if we don't give a good fight. I know that you're capable of pulling this off, I've seen it with my own eyes. Just give it your all.

"Actually, I've got an idea. This could work for a little bit, but it'll wear off soon." I finished, motioning everyone to come closer to me so that I could explain the plan without the Death Eaters overhearing.

0000000000

(Random Death Eater's point of view)

We arrived at a small strip of wall, into which the two girls vanished into. We waited for only a minute before the wall turned into a door and opened slightly. All the Death Eaters ran forward, trying to make a difference so that the Dark Lord would reward them. I got to the door third. I walked inside, ready for immediate battle.

Nothing happened, though. No one attacked, in fact, no one was even there. After about twenty of us had filed into the room, the door closed seemingly on its own. We all turned to see what had happened before some spells were shouted. All of my fellow Death Eaters fell, leaving me standing there alone, now able to see the kids coming out from the shadows.

I tried to call out to the others, but my voice had gone, and all of a sudden, so had the light.

0000000000

(Back to Ron)

"It worked," I half shouted, but half whispered so as to not let the Death Eaters know what had happened.

No one else celebrated with me, but just started their work. Some of us got the stunned Death Eaters out of the way, while the others prepared for the second wave. I began to help too, feeling great that my plan worked, and twenty Death Eaters at least, were already captured again.

I flipped one of the turned over Death Eaters and found something that I hadn't expected. Sticking out of the man's stomach was Gryffindor's Sword. I don't know how it got in here, I don't know how it ended up landing in the Death Eater's body, and I have no clue as to why I took it and placed it in my belt. But I did.

When everything was ready, we opened the door again, and closed it after twenty-five this time. They were easier than the first bunch. We cleaned up again, and started the third attack. It seemed that the Death Eaters had developed a plan of their own.

When we let them in, no one entered. The door was open, but it seemed like the hall was deserted. There wasn't any sound issued from the doorway, and I couldn't hear anything from the rest of the castle either. I looked around at everyone else, but they had the same blank expressions.

I stepped up, took out the sword instead of my wand, again I don't know why, and slowly walked to the door. Light poured in without shadow blocking it. As I reached my destination, the Death Eaters jumped out of their hiding spots, and attacked me. Reflexes made me swing the sword around me, hitting a speed bump on the way. I had connected, but I didn't think about anything other than getting back into the Room of Requirement.

I made it back safe and closed the door quickly, but everyone was scared. Why, though? Weren't we supposed to be facing Death Eaters? Obviously they would figure out our simple plan sooner or later. It didn't take me long to realize why. In the little light that we had, dimming them for our surprise attacks, the sword flashed a vibrant red. Looking more closely, I noticed that I had hit more than once. It was completely red. I couldn't even remember the original color because it looked so normal. My thoughts were cut short, though, because the door openly with a loud bang.

The first spell fired hit its mark. I'm not sure who it was, but they fell to the floor, clearly reacting to a powerful Cruciatius Curse. Another spell was shot not even a second after the first. Again, the Death Eater was accurate. The third hit a foot below the target, but it was still enough to do the job.

By then, all the Death Eaters were in the Room of Requirement, followed by the Order. They seemed to have a few losses themselves. I was locked in a battle with… I'm not sure. Wartime brought out the best in me, because besides the great plan and excellent swordplay, I finished five of my competitors at once without any real challenge. Apparently I could do a shield charm if I really tried.

Screams, yells, and calls for help sounded out over the incantations, but I ignored them with the best of my ability. On occasion, if I was close and not fighting, I would help and save someone, but normally I would be in my own battle. Once, I heard a particularly nasty scream, but I was busy with fighting three Death Eaters at once. I think I was the one who could use some help.

Just as I was dodging one of the shots, I tripped over someone. I didn't know who it was, nor did I care, for I was already looking at something else. Something worse. A Death Eater was standing over Hermione with his wand pointed at her. She didn't have hers, it was lying a couple of feet away from her. Everyone else on my side stopped and saw what was going on. They froze what they were doing to see this. The same thought in my head must have occurred to them. If Hermione, best in the DA and all things magic, could fall to a Death Eater's mercy, what makes me think that I can't?

The Death Eaters stopped too, still steadying their wands in our direction, of course, but they wanted us to see this. Our faces obviously made it show that this was important to us. How could this happen? How could Hermione fall? How could we lose our advantage? Yes, against all odds, we were actually getting more individual victories then they were. To go even farther back, how could there be a prison break? How could Voldemort invade Hogwarts? How could Voldemort find us and take Ginny without leaving behind any evidence beside the letter? How was he doing all this? Will the right side really be able to succeed if we continue taking all these hits? Wow, that's deep. You sure that came out of my own mind?

The Death Eater that was threatening Hermione, Lucious Malfoy, was saying something. I couldn't understand what he said, but I didn't like Hermione's reaction. A green spell flew out of his wand, zooming towards Hermione. She tried to move, but it seemed someone had cast the freezing charm on her.

"NO, NOT HER, TOO," I screamed in my head, not being able to find my voice.

The spell was shot with great accuracy. It came closer and closer until…

A/N: There's a little cliffhanger for you. I already know what I'm going to do for the next chapter, and I've already started writing it. All you need to do is review. I'll post the next chapter after I get at least three reviews.


	13. Nagini

Title: Harry Potter and his Trusted Followers

Summary and Disclaimer: In first chapter

Still Ron's POV

It stopped in midair. Time seemed to freeze. The spell shone onto her, lighting up her face and hair. Lucious, the other Death Eaters, Hermione, and the army all stopped anything they were doing, including breathing. They were like statues. The spell really did stop where it was and I was able to walk around everyone, picking my way over to it.

I bent down to the level of the light and blew really hard. It flew in a different direction, crashing into the wall with a soft bang. Now, onto different matters. Why is the whole room frozen? Why aren't I with them? If this is from me, why wasn't I able to do this before? How did I activate it? How will I start time again? Is this just a one time thing? Can this help us in the war? Will this save my army, and more importantly, help Harry finish off Voldemort?

There it is again. Why are these questions coming to me like this? Will they ever end? STOP IT! I can't turn it off. This must be like what Hermione goes through all day.

Before even trying to unfreeze time, I used the situation to my advantage. I shot spells at the Death Eaters, bringing them down one by one. It took a few minutes, if time were still moving, because there were so many of them, but I finished the job without anyone fighting back.

OK. The army is safe for the a little bit, now to letting them see what I have done. I closed my eyes and concentrated on everyone moving and, hopefully, congratulating me and thanking me. Nothing happened, although I started to develop a headache with so much thinking. I guess when Harry and Hermione always tell me that if I think too hard I'll hurt myself, they weren't joking.

What to do? What to do? The question that I can't answer. I tried visualizing it. That didn't work. Maybe, if I try touching someone, they'll individually start moving. It's worth a shot.

It worked! Hermione fell over, still trying to fight off the spell they cast on her. When she realized that she wasn't dead, she looked around to see what had changed. As she noticed that everyone wasn't moving, a look of shock and fear was clearly visible. She slowly scanned the room, and then spotted me, smiling down at her.

"D-d-did you do… this?" she asked at a lost for anything intelligent to say.

"Yeah," I replied, knowing that was enough for her to understand.

"Wow," She muttered, now fully appreciating the wonder of my abilities.

"I'll explain about what happened later. But now, I gotta unfreeze everyone else."

Ginny was closest to me, but then again there weren't that many people still standing. I touched her on the arm, expecting her to start screaming from the, to her, instant change from battle to peace. At least for now.

Nothing happened, though. She stayed quite still, not moving a muscle. I spun around to look at Hermione, but she had her eyes closed. It seemed that she was concentrating on something, something important. Suddenly, everyone began moving again.

"Wha' happened? Why aren't we killing Death Eaters, like before?" Fred asked.

"Yeah, I was having a really good time," George added. "Although he probably wasn't," he pointed down to a Death Eater who was in an odd position.

I ignored him, but talked to Hermione. "What was that? How did you do that?"

"She did that?" Ginny asked, getting up from the floor she landed on.

"No, I did, but hold on. Did you do that?"

"I think so, but I don't know how," she answered, looking as confused as I did.

"DID WHAT?" Ginny yelled, trying to make sure that I answered her this time.

"Everybody," I started again, realizing what I needed to do. This time there was only fifteen or so. Ignoring the losses we had taken, I continued, "Don't worry about the Death Eaters you were just fighting, I've already taken care of that. I gotta go, but you guys stay here. Clean up or something." I picked up the sword I had accidentally dropped, grabbed Hermione by the arm, and ran out of the castle and back to Harry.

0000000000

Harry had already ran back The Three Broomsticks, trying to stall for time, or at least enough to develop a plan. Voldemort's shadow was approaching the door, signaling the amount of time had left. He grabbed his shirt and wiped his sweating forehead, not letting go of his wand for even a second. A perfect spell came to mind and readied himself.

"Harry, you can't run forever. I'll let you have a few more moments to pray for wellbeing, but it's worthless. And don't think I haven't place anti-disaparation spells on the building. Even the simplest of magic could help in someway," Voldemort taunted from the outside.

Harry knew he was right and searched around the place for anything that could save him for a minute or two. He couldn't find anything, but there was something moving.

Being his only chance, he had to check it out, although Voldemort would make his move in a matter of seconds.

"Hey, Tom," Harry shouted through the door, creeping up on the still moving, what seemed like, animal. "I have a question. Do you enjoy killing? I know that you love the power and possibility, but the acts that you need to commit to achieve them. Are they fun?"

"Why do you ask? Thinking of changing sides? My offer isn't open anymore. Now shut up and enjoy your last few breaths," he replied calmly.

Harry didn't need to think of anything else to say, for he had just found what he was looking for. The animal was a snake. Nagini.

Nagini stared into Harry's green eyes, and Harry stared back. It took them a moment to realize what they were doing, and remember what they needed to do. Nagini had the agility and speed, got away from Harry's grasps. The snake took a huge bite out of Harry's leg. All Harry thought was, 'not again.'

It attacked again, more fiercely than before, but Harry was ready. He dodged it and shot a bright blue flame directly at the middle of the body. Nagini instantly burst into flames, rapidly spreading for middle to head to tail.

Amazingly, Voldemort hadn't noticed, but was still outside looking at his watch.

"One minute, Harry. Get ready to die," he informed.

"Almost there," Harry responded, not really paying attention to what he said, but to the burning, dying animal in front of him.

Harry hurried forward, and dried off the snake. He then, threw it through the window, and made a break for the door. Voldemort was, at first, shocked by the noise, but then, angry about his destroyed horcrux. While he was distracted, Harry ran past him, and back to Hogwarts.


	14. The Sword

Title: Harry Potter and his Trusted Followers

Summary and Disclaimer: In first chapter

As Harry continued sprinting towards the castle, he started to feel slightly dizzy from running so much. His legs were weakening, he lost speed, and the castle seemed a great deal further than before, but he kept it up all the same.

At last, Harry thought, he reached the front doors. Those magnificent doors that he had walked in and out of almost every day for the last six years. But then, it seemed they knew about the fighting and lost their greatness and importance, standing there like guards to a well protected fort. They opened even before he laid his hands on them. Although strangely, there was no one there when he walked. He ran through the entrance, up a few flights of stairs, around a corner, past a few deserted classrooms, and almost smashed into Ron and Hermione. They quickly explained that they had won, but didn't get the chance to celebrate. Harry motioned for them to follow, and again began winding around the school he knew so much, yet so little about.

He slid to a stop, looking into the face of the gargoyle. It didn't wait for a password as usual, just took one look at Harry and moved aside. _Moved_, Harry noticed, not leapt. He climbed the stairs slowly, finally realizing there was no hurry. Voldemort was gone, decided to count his losses (quite a few) and force some more people onto his side. Harry assumed he also needed time to mourn the only thing that was close to him.

The steps he took were so used to him that he was standing in Dumbledore's, no, McGonagall's office before too long. Surprisingly, it seemed that the Order had beaten him there and were all deep in conversation. Also familiar to Harry, they immediately stopped talking when he entered the building. This resulted in an uncomfortable silence where everyone seemingly failed to find Harry's eyes. Harry was very confused, seeing as he had just heard they won.

Were they ashamed of something? Did they just receive horrible news? Were Ron and Hermione hiding something from him? Or were they just trying not look into his green eyes, which were only second to Dumbledore's when it came to power? All these questions were joined by almost fifty more, none of which seemed to come with any answers.

"Harry?" Lupin asked softly with more than a hint of concern in his voice.

"Wha-," Harry answered stupidly, snapping out of his daze.

"Remus was just asking what went on back in Hogsmeade and why they weren't able to locate the scream, when I interrupted and informed him that there wasn't anyone screaming," Harry was surprised that this came from Dumbledore's…mouth?

"Oh, no one screamed. That was Voldemort trying to get you out of the way and to me faster."

"Then why did you tell us to go to the castle?" McGonagall asked this time, still not looking into his eyes, but more just at his face.

"I wasn't going to just let him get away without at least a fight," he mumbled to the ground, a little embarrassed. He then added in not much more than a whisper, "I'm glad I did."

"But-,"

"Also," Harry's volume rose to normal. "Hogwarts has more room to fight. You won didn't you?"

"Yes, but-," again Harry cut her off.

"Well, I'd count that as a good thing." He quickly made sure that the conversation was over by adding, "Now, if you all would just step outside, I'd like to speak with Professor Dumbledore alone."

After a short hesitation, everyone except Ron, Hermione, and McGonagall made to leave. When they had all left, Harry looked over at McGonagall.

"I've been here every other time, Potter. If you don't mind I'd like to stay at my desk and hear what you have to say."

"Fine. Professor," this time he was speaking to Dumbledore's portrait. "When I was down there I came across Nagini." Harry had to talk a little louder over the three gasps that were issued from behind him. "I killed her."

"Very good Harry." Dumbledore ignored the look of horror that passed over McGonagall's face. "You have destroyed a fourth horcrux. Only two more remain."

"Yes, I know. I was wondering if you knew what the last horcrux is."

"Besides the locket?" Harry nodded. "I'm sorry Harry, but I- wait a moment. What's that you're holding Mr. Weasley?"

"What?" Ron replied, looking down into his own hands. "Oh, it's Gryffindor's sword. I don't know why I have it. I just found it and kept it."

"But I thought that…" Dumbledore looked over to where the sword's case lay empty. "I think I know what happened. This is going to be a long story." To assure Dumbledore that he wasn't going anywhere, Harry toke a seat and waited patiently.

"Well, it all begins the day that Quirrell came across Voldemort. As you know, Voldemort was weakened and barely alive. We know that he used Quirrell to try and get the Sorceror's Stone, but what you don't know is that Voldemort needed to sacrifice one of his horcruxes to be able to possess Quirell." To answer Harry's unasked question, "He didn't need to do it with you because of the connection you two share."

"But, sir-,"

"Please, Harry, let me finish. As I was saying, Voldemort was still left with five horcruxes, enough to almost promise immortality. When I went to destroy the ring, I brought the sword in case I needed to use something other than my wand. It is possible that I dropped it, or even just left it there. Voldemort must have found the sword and thought that it would be perfect to use as a horcrux, being from Gryffindor himself.

"I don't know how you found it Mr. Weasley, but I believe that you are holding the fifth horcrux."

It took Ron a moment to realize that he was holding something that contained a portion of Voldemort's soul. When he finally figured it out, he quickly dropped it and took a few steps back.

"Don't worry, it won't hurt you," Dumbledore said smiling. "Now down to business…" Dumbledore said turning to face Harry.

He quickly told Harry a spell and hand movements that could prove that the sword was, in fact, a horcrux. It was. Dumbledore continued by explaining what to do and how to destroy Voldemort's soul, but not the only precise artifact that was still around and had belonged to Gryffindor.

The room shone green as Harry did what Dumbledore said to do. It didn't leave as fast as it came, but faded away after a few seconds. McGonagall took the sword out of Harry's hands and brought it over to its case. She took out her wand and placed it in a small hole on the right side of the case. When she turned it, the door opened like the wand was a key.

"I was really hoping to keep that," Ron complained.

"Sorry, Mr. Weasley, but it belongs here. Now, if I'm not mistaken, you have a few students waiting for you in the Room of Requirement," Professor McGonagall informed them.

Harry looked over at Ron and Hermione with a look of confusion on his face, but Hermione just took his hand and pulled him out of the door, Ron following closely behind them.


	15. Back Together

Title: Harry Potter and his Trusted Followers

Summary and Disclaimer: In first Chapter

A/N: I know this took a LOOOOONG time. But I don't have any excuses to give. Deal with it.

Harry was dragged down the spiral staircase by Hermione, who wouldn't let go of his arm, despite his numerous complaints. As they walked out into the corridor, the Order came into view. Immediately, everyone began asking him what was possibly so private that the Order couldn't even hear. Harry just held up his hand, similar to how Dumbledore would, and they fell silent instantly.  
"You may now go back inside, but don't expect to get any answers from Professor McGonagall either," Harry announced before walking away.

Ron and Hermione followed in his footsteps, Hermione having let go of Harry's arm in surprise when he silenced everyone so quickly. They continued turning familiar corridors and going through their favorite passages until they came to a seemingly doorless strip of wall. To an outsider, it looked as though Harry was pacing around, but Ron and Hermione knew what he was doing. In less than ten seconds, a door was in plain sight, acting as though it hadn't just magically popped out of nowhere.

When Harry entered the room, he was attacked by something from his left. He fell to the ground, Ginny on top of him. Their eyes met for only a second before she caught him in a deep, passionate kiss. He willingly returned it, wanting this to happen for… well, it had been a long time. If possible, this was even better than when they first kissed after his detention with _him_.

After what seemed like a very short time, but in reality was longer than they could hold their breath, they broke apart. Harry looked around at everyone that was staring at him and noticed three people's reaction in specific. Ron was beaming at him, having finally gotten used to the idea of his sister dating his best friend. Ron saw how she reacted after Harry broke up with her and how she refused to come out of her room, even for dinner. If a Weasley would even _think_ about missing _one_ meal, they couldn't be faking. But when she missed two, in a row, something finally clicked in Ron's mind.

Fred and George weren't smiling at him at all, but weren't trying to hex him to death either. They found out during Bill and Fleur's wedding, and weren't planning on letting it continue, at least that's what they thought they thought. Various different jinxes were sent at Harry, but when he finally asked them to kindly remember who had given them his Triwizard Tournament's winnings, the twins settled for angrily leaving the room. Later in the day, they had reluctantly apologized, but Harry noticed Mrs. Weasley kept watching them.

"What happened?" Harry noticed all the Death Eaters on the floor and could only ask a simple question. Obviously his army had fixed their problems before he got there.

Ginny, still on top of Harry, quickly responded, "After you told us to go to the castle, we ran in and didn't find the person who screamed. The Death Eaters came and we were locked in individual battles so we came here. Then Ron came up with a brilliant idea of how to take out forty-five of them. When we tried to get more, they figured out our plan and burst into the room. Again we entered into more battles and stopped when we saw Hermione was about to be killed. A second later, everything was fine and the Death Eaters were all stunned. Ron and Hermione must have done something, but they won't tell us what."

Harry looked over at Ron and Hermione questioning the truth of Ginny's last statement without using words. They only gave him a look that signified a later conversation was needed to fully explain.

"Wow, a lot happened today. I think we should all stay in Hogwarts today to rest and get some food." Harry's suggestion was met with much acceptance from his hungry and tired soldiers. "Everyone go up to McGonagall's office and find out what will happen next. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, please stay here."

After everyone had filed out of the room, Harry turned towards them to ask what had happened. Hermione beat him to it, though, providing an answer before he had the chance to ask the question.

"I'm not sure what happened, Harry," Hermione began. "One minute I'm about to die and the next everyone's frozen except for me and Ron. Plus, I wasn't in danger anymore."

"Ron, why was everyone frozen," Harry asked, turning his attention to his best friend. Ginny was listening to the conversation closely.

"I'm not completely sure, but I think I froze time," Ron answered, aware he sounded like he was crazy.

"What? Froze time? How is that even possible?" Ginny asked, finally entering the conversation.

"I don't know. About a second before Malfoy's spell hit its target, everything froze. No one moved and the curse stopped in midair. I seemed to be the only who could move. I went over to Hermione and knocked away the spell. I stunned all the death eaters while I had the chance, but still no one else was moving. I touched Hermione on the arm and she started to move again, but when I tried it on everyone else, it didn't work."

"Then I concentrated on making everyone move and they did," Hermione finished. "I really don't know how it worked, but it was amazing."

"Actually, something similar happened to me, too," Harry admitted.

"What? You froze time, too," Ginny asked, shocked and a little jealous.

"No, I didn't freeze time, but I did find I had a new power."

"Really? Cool. What is it?" Ron excitedly asked.

"After all of you left, the giants started to attack. Not knowing what I was doing, I lifted my hands and pushed them out towards the giants. Do you know what happened then?"

"They laughed at you?" Ron guessed.

"No, they flew backwards and out of sight."

"Wow," Ginny said, staring at Harry with awe.

"That's incredible, Harry. Now all of us have a new power," Hermione commented.

"I don't," Ginny corrected, sad that she couldn't do anything special.

"Maybe your power just hasn't shown itself yet," Harry comforted.

"Thanks, Harry," Ginny said as she went to hug him.

"Hey, get a room," Ron warned from the side.

Harry turned toward him and simply answered, "We're in a room."

"Get a _different_ room."

"Ok," Harry answered leading Ginny to the door.

"No. Stay here. I was just joking."

"Sure you were," Harry replied, amused at his friend's reaction.

"Ron, where did you get the sword from?" Hermione asked before Ron had the chance to respond.

"I found it under one of the Death Eaters. I just kept it. I'm not sure how it got there, though."

"We'll figure it out tomorrow, but first we should back to McGonagall's office and find out what our plans are," Harry suggested, suddenly feeling how tired he was.

"Yeah, I'm exhausted," Hermione agreed.

There was complete silence as the four of them walked up to the headmistress's office. They were all too busy thinking to say anything. When they reached their destination, they found the whole order and the army packed into the office.

"What's going to happen?" Ron asked Fred, who happened to be standing near the door.

"McGonagall's going to set up a few rooms for us. The order is calling an emergency meeting at Grimauld Place, so they'll be leaving soon," Fred answered quietly, listening as McGonagall announced where everyone would be sleeping.

"What did you need to talk about," George asked Harry, appearing next to Fred.

"Don't worry about it. It wasn't important," Harry quickly replied.

After the order had left and McGonagall had shown everyone their rooms, Harry, Ron, Fred, and George entered the room they would be sharing. The room was in a part of the castle Harry had never been to before. It was concealed by a portrait of a very old man that was pleased to see them. Apparently he didn't many see people anymore as his room hadn't been used in years. He tried to start a conversation, but they were too tired to talk very long.

The room had four beds, each a different Hogwarts color, a small, round table in the middle, stocked with quills and parchment, a long table in the back holding enough food for a quick snack, and an elegant bathroom, decorated in Gryffindor colors.

The boys had a small bite to eat and then settled into bed, waiting for the following day to think about what had happened.


End file.
